HOPE — It just takes a few bits and pieces, and a little bit of elbow grease to start your own business.
At least that’s what Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School sophomore Krista Blackburn said it took for a group of Hauser students when they created TempSense, a business that produces electronic temperature sensor kits for the classroom.
Junior Emils Vigants, freshman Kiersten Meiser and Blackburn took home the first place prize of $1,500 for their business concept in the local Maverick Challenge, sponsored by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Maverick Challenge is a high school business planning competition for southern Indiana high school students. Since 2008, more than 1,000 students from over 17 Indiana high schools have participated in the challenge. This year was Hauser’s first time participating in the annual challenge.
Computer science teacher Deborah Gaff grouped the students together in her computer science course last fall and suggested they attempt the Maverick Challenge. Having never talked to one another before, the three students decided to take on the challenge.
To start, Vigants, Meiser and Blackburn completed an online course that taught them the basics of creating a business. Shortly thereafter, they started meeting in Gaff’s resource class to brainstorm ideas for a business.
Understanding the demand for computer science professionals, the students decided to create a product that would build enthusiasm around the computer science field.
“Computer science is usually stigmatized as a boring and uninteresting subject,” Vigants said. “We created a kit that teaches computer science to high school students. You’re not programming a game or something stereotypical — you’re programming a temperature sensor to use later in other areas.”
Blackburn said the best ideas are established when you identify an issue and attempt to solve it. The temperature sensor kit not only teaches students how to assemble and program a product, but Meiser said it also has the potential to decrease the number of children and animals who are left in hot cars during the summer months.
“When you do look at the statistics, there really isn’t anything like we’ve got on the market for the level of middle school to high school using a more advanced, yet easy to understand, language,” Meiser said. “What currently exists is either really hard or really easy. We filled that gray area.”
“It’s not only just a good idea or a good product that puts it above the others,” Blackburn said. “You have to have the product, you have to have the charisma and you have to have the push to get it there.”
Blackburn said the Maverick Challenge is a big pitch competition. The end goal is to have someone invest in your business after presenting it to a group of business owners and investors.
The students said they will use the $1,500 they won in the local challenge to purchase additional assets for the business, including laptops to communicate more effectively and be used to run software.
Since its creation, TempSense is already being used by Hauser students. Instructions are provided to assemble the kit and wire it. Once it’s assembled, the user plugs the kit into a computer to complete the coding. Through the coding, the user is able to make regulations to the product, such as deciding what temperature is too hot or too cold.
“We have our classmates using our product and we’ve received some feedback from them,” Blackburn said. “That was one of our biggest steps was sitting in resource making it on a table to our classmates having it in front of them and coding and learning from it. That’s our product.”
After the first week of using the product in the classroom, the group gathered feedback and revised the product’s code to make it a bit easier to use.
TempSense is not a registered business, but the students said they hope they can use the knowledge and skills they gained from the challenge to have an advantage over competitors in the future.
“When you hear someone talk about starting their own business … it seems so overwhelming but when you go through it, it’s actually not as hard is it seems,” Blackburn said.
“You just have to put in the effort and really think before you do. When you think about starting a business, it’s just a few bits and pieces and a little bit of elbow grease, then you have a business.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About the Maverick Challenge” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The Maverick Challenge is a high school business planning competition for high school students in Southern Indiana.
The challenge aims to further develop the innovative spirit of our region by reaching out to high school students and showing them viable career opportunities through entrepreneurship.
Source: MaverickChallenge.com
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About TempSense” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
TempSense is a business created by Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School students Emils Vigants, Krista Blackburn and Kiersten Meister. The business produces electronic temperature sensor kit for the classroom. The tool kits teach students how to assemble the product and produce their own coding.
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