Staff Reports
A Columbus North High School student has won $1,000 for his pitch for the Aspire Group as part of the youth entrepreneurship initiative known as the Maverick Challenge.
Trey Nebergall, Columbus North High School, was second for a business that he started, a full service real estate media company providing professional photography, video, drone and 3D tours for real estate agents. Details about the business can be found at aspiregroupmedia.com.
Nebergall won the local Maverick Challenge competition, and was the local area’s representative among nine students in six counties in southeastern Indiana at the regional finals competition.
Students participating in the Maverick Challenge must complete an online curriculum on business foundations to help them take their ideas from a concept to a developed business plan. Students then pitch those business plans in multiple rounds of judging at the county and regional levels.
Coordinated by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, the challenge is designed to give high school entrepreneurs hands-on experience in entrepreneurship. This year, about 300 students from Bartholomew, Dearborn, Franklin, Jackson, Jennings, Monroe and Scott counties participated. Since its inception in 2008, more than $100,000 has been awarded.
This year’s winner was a team from the Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship at Bloomington High School North in Monroe County, for the pitch for AR Odyssey. Team members were Jesse Kogge, Julia Layton and Aidan Mahaffey. The team created a hands-on computer science education app for students age 10 to 13 that incorporates augmented reality.
The Judge’s Choice Award for Spotlight on Innovation was GutterButler, with team members Madie Hoog and Lana Lischkge, of Oldenburg Academy, Franklin County. Their business idea was an automatic rain-gutter opener designed to simplify life for cistern users and making cistern ownership more efficient.
The Judge’s Choice for Research and Preparation was Sunset Vistas, from Maggie Connell, Seymour High School in Jackson County. Her pitch was for an independent retirement community in Seymour.
Regional finalists included Socially Grown, from Devin Fluhmann, Lawrenceburgh High School in Dearborn County. The business idea was to help businesses establish their brand on social media by creating social media posts for them and identifying social media trends.
Another regional finalist was Ashley Miller, Scottsburg High School in Scott County, with a sleek GPS dog collar connected to an app so pet owners may be notified when their pet leaves a designated area.
Bartholomew County partners for the Maverick Challenge include gold sponsor Agresta, Storms & O’Leary CPA firm, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., Carl Marshall and Mildred Allman Reeves Fund, the chamber, IUPUC business department, Old National Bank Foundation and the Southeastern Indiana Small Business Development Center.
Regional partners include AIM Young Professionals, Brownstown Chamber of Commerce, Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., Jennings County Economic Development, IUPUC, Mid-America Science Park, The Mill, Oldenburg Academy, Seymour Chamber of Commerce, Southeastern Indiana SBDC and Innovate WithIN.
The Maverick Challenge program is also supported by grants from the Carl Marshal and Mildred Alman Reeves fund and the Old National Bank Foundation
