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SALT LAKE CITY — Young entrepreneurs from around the Beehive State spent the past weekend competing for $30,000 in cash and scholarships from the University of Utah.
The High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, hosted by the U.'s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, included 20 teams who were narrowed down from over 150 applications battling for the $10,000 grand prize.
When it was all said and done, West High School's Rocket Tutors and the team's budding business were crowned as the winners.
The business looks to provide free one-on-one online math tutoring and was started by Syna Aggarwal with her brother, Arya, after a personal experience with needing a tutor.
"Last year, I started really struggling in my math class, and my parents got me online tutoring, and it really started helping me," said Syna Aggarwal, a junior at West High School. "So, me and my brother came up with the idea that there are a lot of students out there struggling, except they don't have the resources to pay for it."
Rocket Tutors' model provides free tutoring through donations from companies and individuals. The donors receive a tax benefit and opportunity to "make an impact on people's lives," while the Rocket Tutors will collect a small transition cost to cover business expenses, according to a release from the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.
The team is hopeful that this idea can benefit students who may not be able to afford tutoring through traditional avenues.
"I think our idea is important because there are just so many students out there struggling with math and so many students out there that can't afford tutoring, so I think it could have a really big impact," Syna said.
The High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge is the youth version of the collegiate Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, which will offer $100,000 in cash and prizes this year. For the high school competition, teams were presented with a problem and had to come up with a creative business solution to address the problem.
Rounding out the Top 3 of the competition was Munk Skateboarding of American Fork High School, which placed second and took home $5,000; and Sailrugs of Herriman High School, which placed third and took home $2,500.
According to a release from the institute, Munk Skateboarding is "geared toward positive messages of motivation while doing something hard, like skateboarding or anything else."
They team wants to make a product similar to a suede shoe patch to protect and lengthen the shoe's life while skating.
Sailrugs makes handcrafted, tufted rugs, and a release from the institute says clients typically approach the founder with a desire to get their business logo or another art form turned into a rug.
In addition to the Top 3 teams, all 20 teams in the competition were offered a spot in the Lassonde Founders program, which includes a $1,000 housing scholarship for students to live in and launch businesses together at Lassonde Studios.
"We had many great teams competing this year, and it was very hard for our judges to choose the winners from the Top 20 teams," said Logan Bogesvang, student director of the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge. "We invite all high school students in Utah to learn more about the competition and participate next year. The application will open in the fall. All you need is a business idea to participate."
A list of all 20 teams and their business ideas can be found here.
