AACC’s Entrepreneurial Studies Institute in November awarded $2,500 to a student who sells jump ropes to people with mobility problems.
Entrepreneurship student Patti Kuhlman won first place in ESI’s Big Idea competition for her business, Kuhlwhip Speed Ropes.
Second-place winner Tyler Loh, a noncredit student, won $1,000 for his business, Wvndr Studios, a workspace for content creators, and student Judi Peveto’s Chronically Creative—a space for artists with disabilities—took home the $500 third prize.
Stephanie Goldenberg, ESI’s academic chair, said the competition is “an opportunity for [students] to talk about their idea in a way that would be persuasive, that could inform, that could really just make a change even in the world or their community.”
During the annual event, contestants showed short videos about their business ideas. This year’s winner got $2,500 instead of the usual $1,000 to recognize the 20th anniversary of the sponsor, the Ratcliffe Foundation.
During the event, ESI announced six new Ratcliffe Scholars, who could receive up to $12,000 in scholarships.