{"id":1133,"date":"2025-11-14T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/11\/14\/2025-11-14-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:09:28","slug":"2025-11-14-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/11\/14\/2025-11-14-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Elevator Pitch sees big\u00a0winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Olivia Massucci<\/a> · Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jessica
Jessica Pratt won first place in the social enterprise category. \u2014 TAVA DERR<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grove City College students earned cash prizes for invention ideas in the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation\u2019s (E+I) annual Elevator Pitch Competition (EPC). E+I held the final round on Wednesday in Sticht Lecture Hall on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open to students of all majors, the competition included two divisions: commercial enterprise and social enterprise. The competition aimed at equipping students with networking and professional skills for business and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s competition had 278 student entries from 37 different majors and dual-enrolled students, a 65% increase in entries over last year and the highest total involvement in the 19-year history of the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to see the tremendous growth in registrations for the EPC,\u201d E+I Executive Director Yvonne English said. \u201cWe\u2019re especially grateful to faculty from various departments who have seen the value of the competition and encouraged their students to participate, as this competition equips our students to bring their exciting and inspirational ideas to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students had two minutes to present their venture to a panel of judges, and thanks to an anonymous donor, the placement prizes were doubled, so first-place winners received $1,000, compared to the original $500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophomore computer science and data science major Aaron Show took first overall in the commercial enterprise division for his pitch for Venari Track, a tracking device that attaches to an arrow so hunters can responsibly track and harvest wild game while reducing waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial enterprise division runner-up winners include freshman entrepreneurship major Rebekah Lockert, who won $800 for Let\u2019s Be Crafty, finishing in second. Third went to sophomore history major Isabel Paul, who won $600 for Axis Pack. Lastly, sophomore entrepreneurship major Tyce Bowers (Shroudly) and freshman English and communications major Anna Kasianides (The Common Thread) tied for fourth, each receiving $400.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prizes remained the same for the social enterprise division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Jessica Pratt, a communications and design and innovation major, secured first place for her pitch for Adapted Adventures, a nonprofit video concierge service for individuals with special needs or physical limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a brain injury back in 2022. From there, I had a lot of sensory and mobility impairments that were a result of that. And so, upon seeing a lot of the problems that I face and a lot of the problems that people with disabilities face because I also work within disabilities ministry, I was really inspired to want to help them make certain travel arrangements because I can see how difficult it can be to get to one place from another,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cSo, to be able to have won, honestly, I just say credit goes to God. I prayed a lot before I gave this pitch, and I\u2019m just so grateful that if I got to show anything, it was his glory for bringing me from there to now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social enterprise division runner-up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ship major Adam Wampler, who came in second for Awkward Pause, and third place was a tie between freshman marketing major Claire Brandenburg for Clean That Bookshelf and junior entrepreneurship major Sarah Karns and junior international business major Julia Drake for The Diakoneo Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The competition also offered a few separate awards to contestants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wampler took home the Fan Favorite award and $100 for his pitch, a mobile game for elevating communication skills to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karns and Drake secured first place and the $500 Social Impact prize from the Grove City Foundation (which its president, Dorene Powell, awarded) for their pitch, which aimed to help churches connect with the needs of their external communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul received a $1,000 prize from Don Tharp of Hudson Financial Advisors, Inc., for her pitch, a company that combines elements of hiking and school backpacks to create a \u201cbest of both worlds\u201d bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s judges were Don Tharp, founder and president of Hudson Financial Advisors Inc., Mitch McFeely, vice president and business development officer for NexTier Bank, Elizabeth O\u2019Brien, director of product for IHG Hotels & Resorts, Mark Pentz, president of Calvin Group, and Mike Pentz, vice president of Calvin Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E+I established the competition in 2007 based on the idea, \u201ctell me about your new venture within the time it would take to ride up an elevator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sponsors included Hudson Financial Advisors Inc., NexTier Bank, Calvin Group and the Grove City Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Western Pa. and Eastern Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the impressive things was this year, every idea that was presented was viable in some form of fashion; that the kids did a great job on presenting, and just the ideas in general were really, really good this year,\u201d Mike Pentz said. \u201cEvery one of them is a viable business option, and I hope to see them in the venture economy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grove City College students earned cash prizes for invention ideas in the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation\u2019s (E+I) annual Elevator Pitch Competition (EPC). E+I held the final round on Wednesday in Sticht<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[14,39,79],"class_list":["post-1133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","tag-front-page","tag-issue-2025-11-14","tag-olivia-massucci"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",621,332,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",150,80,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",300,160,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",621,332,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",621,332,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",621,332,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-11-14-03-elevator-pitch-sees-big-winners-1.jpg",621,332,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Grove City College students earned cash prizes for invention ideas in the Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation\u2019s (E+I) annual Elevator Pitch Competition (EPC). E+I held the final round on Wednesday in Sticht","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}