SAY YES: District 2’s first Young Entrepreneurial Student Pitch Contest meant business!

Big ideas earned big checks during the District’s first Young Entrepreneurial Student (YES!) Pitch Contest, held May 13 at Blackhawk Middle School.

For the contest, students from Deanna Berardi’s STEM Lab classes and the school’s YES! After-School Club were tasked with coming up with a product or service that would solve a problem.

Among the more than 20 entrepreneurial ideas pitched during the contest were colorful and shapely bandages, footlights to help you find your way at night, chip sealers to keep your snack food fresh,special lunch bags that heat and cool to keep foods fresh, and more!

In the end, the winners were …

• FIRST PLACE | “Design Daids” by Analia Arteaga and Angela Bahena, who received $1,000 from the Bensenville Community Foundation

• SECOND PLACE | “The Bag Buddy” by Kiley Dec, who received $500 from the Bensenville Community Foundation

• THIRD PLACE | “Compound” by Val Gomez and Maya Ortiz, who received $300 from the Bensenville-Wood Dale Rotary Club

• PEOPLE’S CHOICE | “Foot Lights” by Alex Gomez, who received $250 from Innovation DuPage

“No matter the winners, all students that participated were touched with the entrepreneurial spirit,” said Lara Schwarz, BSD2 Community Liaison. 

Special thanks all those who volunteered to judge the pitch contest: Jim Stoltman, District 2 Board of Education Vice President; Anne Paonessa, District 2 Interim Director for Teaching and Learning; Frank DeSimone, Village of Bensenville President; Tom Earley, Bensenville Community Foundation President; Sam Guerrero, Innovation DuPage Programming and Events Manager; Betsy D’Onofrio, Inland Mortgage Business Development/CRA Officer.