10 students win Believe in Ohio awards

NEXT GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS: '95 grads Dale and Lina Wollschleger present this year's awards in the Believe in Ohio STEM Business Plan Competition.

Following their keynote address to kick off Career Week, '95 graduates Dale and Lina Wollschleger presented awards to 10 students in the Believe in Ohio STEM Business Plan Competition.

This competition challenges students to generate creative entrepreneurial ideas for a product or service and then to develop their ideas by writing complete business plans. Students developed their plans under the guidance of business teacher Mrs. Nancy Vondrak in her Business in the 21st Century class. Four local entrepreneurs selected the winners.

Sofia DiCillo took first place and won $250 for her business plan for MediaWatch, a creative way for parents to limit children’s social media access. Sofia is the first solo award winner in the five-year history of the business plan competition.

The second-place award winners, splitting a prize of $150, are Danielle Lazuka and Molly Mamone. They developed Straight from the Bottle, a cutting-edge shampoo and conditioner formulated to straighten curly hair. Entrepreneurship must run in the family for these students as their sisters, Mary Mamone ’15 and Samantha Lazuka ’16, were also Believe in Ohio contest winners.

Briana Cowman and Hailey Oppenlander won third place and $100 for Plush Brush, an innovative, multiple-application hair care appliance.

These students earned honorable mention awards for their business plans: Samantha Dow and Jacquelyn Gardner for Beverage Beads, a creative way to keep drinks hot or cold; Charles Forbes for Billies, a healthy alternative to beef jerky snacks; and JD Delahunty and Andrew Winters for Florilia, a device to hydrate plants