Riverwood Student Wins First Place In TiE Young Entrepreneurs Global Competition

From Riverwood International: Riverwood International Charter School Junior, Shreya Rekapalli, won first place as part of a five-person team in this summer’s TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Global Competition at the University of California, Irvine. Rekapalli and her teammates, representing schools from across the Atlanta metro area, first won a regional competition, qualifying them for the June 2017 global event. Rekapalli and her teammates, Anuj Das (Alpharetta High School), Ananya Ganesh (The Westminster Schools), Alex Gonzalez (Cristo Rey Atlanta), and Anushka Korantana (Northview High School), developed Chill Wipes, an all-natural essential oil-based cooling wipe with sun protection. The wipe, packaged in a compact, economical, and customizable pack, won first place in the Global Competition, as well as the Best Elevator Pitch award. They were the first team ever to win both a special award and the best team award. Rekapalli, an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme candidate at Riverwood, says her favorite academic subjects are math and history. She has taken several business classes in high school and currently serves as the president of Riverwood’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). A well- rounded student, Rekapalli also takes part in Model United Nations, Student Government, Beta Club, and Science National Honor Society. Furthermore, she is a member of Riverwood’s Girls Cross Country and Soccer teams. Notes Rekapalli, “I learned so much from the TYE Program… especially the fact that the entire process of building a product is not easy whatsoever. I loved that we got a sense of the real business world, and what it is really like to be an entrepreneur.” The winning team recently made an appearance on 90.1 WABE fm radio, and were featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Listen to the 15-minute interview:http://school.fultonschools.or...Interview%20Fall%202017.mp3

TiE Young Entrepreneurs is an extra-curricular program to educate high school students on what it takes to
be successful in business as an entrepreneur. Students form teams and meet with mentors twice a month
over a six-month period to develop ideas and create comprehensive business plans, which they then present
at a series of competitions. 25 teams from around the world qualified for the Global Competition, which
awarded a total of $10,000.

Image Courtesy of Riverwood International