Michael Wolf of Wethersfield, CT Competed In LaunchVT Business Pitch Competition

2017 Feb 10

Michael Wolf of Wethersfield, CT Competed in annual Launch VT Business Pitch Competition.

Nine student entrepenuers competed for a total of $3,000 in cash prizes and the opportunity to represent Champlain College at the LaunchVT Collegiate statewide competition on February 24 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, VT. Champlain College President Donald J. Laackman provided opening remarks and encouragement to the students and stayed to help present the awards, live tweeting throughout. His support for their efforts was greatly appreciated by the students.

Students were required to deliver a full business pitch of up to ten minutes. It is no exaggeration to say that every student gave a strong presentation of their business ideas which ranged from high performance swimwear for active women, an innovative roleplaying table game, a website for trading game "mods" (who knew), a 21st century rotary phone for hipsters, an nifty way to protect sunglasses, a creative apparel brand with a social mission and more.The judges, Marguerite Dibble ('12), Ken Merritt of Merritt & Merritt, and Chas Smith, co-founder of SAP! Maple Water had a difficult time picking the winners but finally chose the following students:

1st Place ($2,000 prize) Michael Roberts - Division of Information Technology and Sciences 2020, Artify.com, a website for easy buying and selling of art.

2nd Place ($600 prize) Prince Awhaitey - Robert P. Stiler School of Business 2018, Healthy Kingdom Juice Drinks, healthy drinks, protein shakes and cleanses, from right here in the old North End.

3rd Place ($400 prize) Joshua Kenyon - Robert P. Stiler School of Business 2017, Ship Shape Fitness, converting shipping containers to turn-key fitness centers, an idea spawned and developed in Joshua's innovation and entrepreneurship classes.

The field of student entrepreneurs also included:

Nate Boland, ITS 2020, Innate Apparel - Social enterprise selling distinctively designed apparel to help preserve the wilderness.

David Durmazolou, CCM 2017,Grit System - an innovative roleplaying table game.

Matt Giles, SSB 2019, The Zutter Group - innovative products; Matt presented a traditional rotary telephone with state of the art technology that ties it to one's smart phone.

Emily LaPlume, SSB 2017, Saturday Swimwear - Swimsuits for active, athletic women.

Michael Roberts, ITS 2018, Mod Syndicate - website for game modders

Andrew Wilsey, SSB 2017, Smart Clips - innovative device to hold one's sunglasses securely to one's baseball cap

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About Champlain College

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and 11 master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 379 Colleges: 2015 Edition. Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges and is ranked in the top tier of 2015 Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu