A trio of Stonewall students has mastered the art of the pitch.
Sara Vandekerckhove, Chelsea Thomas and Katie Braid represented Collège Stonewall Collegiate at the Skills Manitoba Dragon’s Lair Pitch Competition held at Red River College Polytech on June 4.
For this competition, Grade 11 and 12 business students are invited to collaborate in teams to create their own product idea, either a good or a service. They then pitch their concept to the “Dragons,” local entrepreneurs and business leaders.
The Grade 10 Stonewall students created a product called Bounce Back, a hairbrush that stores and dispenses water as well as curl cream or detangler. The product is geared toward anyone with curly hair.
“For our pitch and presentation, we had to create a new product and deliver a strong pitch stating the problem, breaking down the solution, explaining our target market, highlighting our competitive advantage and finishing with our price point,” Sara explained. “We also had to answer the Dragons’ questions.”
All preparations for the competition were completed on-site, beginning with a workshop session led by RRC Polytech instructors. After that, participants had 90 minutes for research followed by 30 minutes to build their pitch before presenting it to the Dragons panel for judging.
Their creativity and hard work paid off as they captured first place.
“We benefited from participating in this event by having the opportunity to hear from and talk to successful entrepreneurs and gain experience working in a group in a fast-paced, timed competition against other students,” Chelsea said.
For winning the competition, they received Tim Hortons gift cards, a Skills Manitoba T-shirt and an RRC Polytech crewneck.
“Going into this competition, we were the youngest team and the only group of three. We were also the only all-girls team competing, made up of two current Retailing Perspectives Business students and one former Grade 9 Business Innovations student,” Katie said. “Ultimately, we took the dub, and we are proud to say we are the first-ever winners of the Skills Manitoba Dragon’s Lair competition.”
Business teacher Dan Gregovski said the group brought plenty of energy and ideas to the competition.
“They represented the school and the business program very well,” he said. “I’m very proud of them.”
Maria Pacella, executive director of Skills Manitoba, expressed similar enthusiasm for the students’ efforts.
“We are so impressed with the level of talent displayed by the high school students. Their ability to grasp entrepreneurial concepts was absolutely amazing,” she said.
“We look forward to continuing the Dragon’s Lair in partnership with RRC Polytech.”
