Stamford Students Take 1st In Regional Entrepreneur Contest

STAMFORD, CT - From Stamford Public Schools: Stamford Public Schools (SPS) announced that Academy of Information Technology & Engineering (AITE) student Ryan Edkins took first place in the Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, hosted by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) NY Metro, which qualifies him for the national competition in October.

Edkins, a student of AITE Business Teacher Brenda Zanga, competed against high schools from across the New York Metro-area with his winning business plan for an environmentally friendly product called Moist-True. The product is a moisture-detection system connected to a phone that will alert users when plants need to be watered, which eliminates unnecessary watering.

All participants in the regional competition first qualified at their school-level competitions held earlier in the year. Each competitor is required to make a seven-minute business plan presentation. The students need to demonstrate a command of entrepreneurship principles as well as defend their plans before a judging panel of business leaders. The regional competition judging panel comprised Jordan Barnes of Michael Kors, Lars Bengston of VICE.com, Carlos Manteiga of Santander Bank, Julie Shin of Citigroup and Kerri Warner of Mastercard.

As the first place winner in the NY Metro Regional Competition, Edkins received $1,500 in seed capital. He and the second place winner, Barbara Herrera from Brooklyn High School of the Arts, willrepresent the NY Metro region at NFTE's National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York City on October 11, 2018.

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