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NDCL’s budding entrepreneurs score cash prizes for winning business plans
LIONS IN THE SHARK TANK: Mr. Ryan White and Mrs. Nancy Vondrak congratulate student entrepreneurs Martina Katic, David Mele, Austin Craver, and Reagan Hoyt for their winning business plans in the Northeast Ohio Innovates competition.

Thanks to our Business Department, NDCL students may one day may be ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge on the popular TV show “Shark Tank.”

With the help of entrepreneurs from Northeast Ohio Innovates, students in Business Department Chairperson Mrs. Nancy Vondrak’s classes recently developed comprehensive business plans for all sorts of creative products and services. Northeast Ohio Innovates encourages students to become the future innovators and entrepreneurs Ohio needs to help develop the products, services, and jobs of the future.

After plans were graded as a class project, they were judged by four local entrepreneurs. Winners received their awards from Mr. Ryan White, President and CEO of INSIGHT2PROFIT, following his keynote presentation to kick off Career Week.

Congratulations to these creators of the winning business plans:

FIRST PLACE: Senior Martina Katic, who received a $250 cash prize for her business plan for MoodSwing, a music app that senses your emotions and creates a personal playlist based on the mood that you are feeling.

SECOND PLACE: Senior David Mele, whose business plan for Antique Charters, a charter service with an air fleet of antique aircraft, earned him a $150 cash prize.

THIRD PLACE: Junior Michael Matchett won $100 for IDDPS, an Intelligent Distracted Driver Prevention System that monitors a driver’s hand placement on the steering wheel.  

HONORABLE MENTION: Judges recognized senior Reagan Hoyt for ChartR, a medical record app that will work across multiple hospital systems to store, send, and receive medical records. Seniors Austin Craver and Zachary Zienka also earned an honorable mention award for Chewy Penz, pens with flavored tips made of rubber that users can safely chew without damaging their teeth.