A group of students from Summit Tamalpais public school in Richmond was among 10 teams selected as finalists in the first Contra Costa Shark Tank Youth Competition.
Seventh graders Valerie Castellanos, Angie Alvarenga and Giovanny Perez were selected from a pool of over 300 applicants to pitch their entrepreneurial idea, called Loonies (more details on their idea to come).
At a finalist pitch event at Lafayette library on Feb. 6, the Summit Tamalpais students will compete against other finalists. Prizes of $1,000, $500 and $250 will be awarded to teams finishing in the top three at the event, respectively.
The competition is open to all Contra Costa County students as a fun way to promote youth entrepreneurship. Sponsors include Chevron, Visa, PG&E, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, and Campolindo Parents Club.
“The best way to learn about entrepreneurship is by starting a business,” said high school junior Maya Hammerman, the competition founder and one of the judges. “My journey as an entrepreneur started in elementary school. I created the competition to inspire kids in Contra Costa County to start or grow any type of business from traditional ones such as lemonade stands, to innovative new products or services that they create.”
The following is the full list of finalists.
- SportzCity, Hunter Smith (5th Grade, Burton Valley Elementary, Lafayette)
- Experimental Kids, Archit Kundu (5th Grade, Bella Vista Elementary, San Ramon)
- Lydia’s Soap, Lydia Stewart (7th Grade, Homeschool, Antioch)
- Loonies, Valerie Castellanos, Angie Alvarenga, Giovanny Perez (7th, Summit Tamalpais, Richmond)
- Tied Up in a Bow, Himna Imam & Mahum Malik (9th Grade, Venture & Dougherty Valley, San Ramon)
- ElderSafe, Ronen Jain (10th Grade, Monte Vista High, Danville)
- MiracleAlgae, Nicolas Angel-Ordonez & Shashank Koundinya (11th Grade, San Ramon Valley, Danville)
- Synchroma Studio, Hector Espinoza (12th Grade, Freedom High, Oakley)
- ScrubWoofer™, Beatrice Roberge (12th Grade, Campolindo High, Moraga)
- Workout Wizard, Fatimah Hussain (12th Grade, Dougherty Valley High, San Ramon)
For ticket information visit www.contracostasharktank.org
