Student Innovators Compete for Minister’s Entrepreneurship Award

Students from across the province will compete for one of three Minister’s Entrepreneurship Awards of Excellence and a $1,000 grant to support further development of their business idea.

“We want to encourage innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit among our youth,” said Zach Churchill, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. “Innovation is what drives progress and these students will lead the way. Their raw talent and drive to succeed are incredibly impressive.”

The province has partnered with the Business Education Council to offer students from grades 6 to 12 an opportunity to pitch their business idea, Dragon’s Den style, to a panel of business and education leaders during an event today, April 25, at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.

Students will be chosen to receive an award in each of three categories: Social Enterprise, Technology, and Innovation and Creativity.

The 2019 finalists are:

• Braden Marshall, Lockview High School, Fall River, Halifax Regional Centre for Education. His company is Braden Inc, an e-commerce company that sells baked desserts
• Lori O’Connell, Amherst Regional High School, Amherst, Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education. Her company is 3 Arrows Vintage and Reworked Clothing, which offers a fashion line using old material
• Layla Owens, École secondaire du Sommet, Bedford, Conseil scolaire acadien provincial and Mitchell Owens, Charles P. Allen High School, Bedford, Halifax Regional Centre for Education. They have developed Submergency, a device that detects when a vehicle is in danger of submerging and calls 911 for help
• Madison Crawford, Eastern Passage Education Centre, Eastern Passage, Halifax Regional Centre for Education. Her company is 2 Paws Up Dog Treats which offers specialty gluten-free and all-natural treats for dogs
• Talia Quinlan, École secondaire du Sommet, Bedford, Conseil scolaire acadien provincial. Her company is Sea Secrets, which offers seashell mulch as a friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers
• Isabelle MacNeil and Madison Houghton, Ellenvale Junior High School, Dartmouth and Emerson MacNeil and Megan Houghting, Brookhouse Elementary, Dartmouth, Halifax Regional Centre for Education. Their company is Beach Coast which sells hand-crafted polymer clay stud earrings inspired by their love of the East Coast and Nova Scotia beaches
• Gabriella Stewart, Riverview High School, Coxheath, Cape Breton Regional Centre for Education, who publishes Guillozine, a submission-based monthly art magazine
• Eric Zhang and Ethan Johnston, Citadel High School, Halifax, Halifax Regional Centre for Education. Their company is BundleBee, an organic, reusable food wrap company
• Gabriel Baker, West Kings District High School, Auburn, Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education. His company is 3dMEnow which offers customized three-dimension portraits, statues and sculptures

“The event last year was a great learning experience,” said Leilia Fraser, Grade 10 student and 2018 Entrepreneurship Award Winner in the category of Social Enterprise. “We learned a lot about how customers are grouped and how to determine our target market.”

Three award winners will be chosen from the finalists later today.

For more information about the awards go to http://www.novascotia.ca/entrepreneuraward/.