Middle and High School Students To Pitch To Local Investors

    IRVINE, CA, April 05, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- On April 6th at 5:30 PM 11 student entrepreneurs will take the stage at The Cove located in UCI to present their business plans before a panel of local leaders of industry and a public audience. The students are dressed as young professionals, and are ready to wow the crowd.

11 students in grades 6 through 12 representing 8 businesses and social movements from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) at StandUp For Kids will have six minutes to pitch their business plans to prominent local members of the business community, during the program's annual YEA! Investor Panel Event "Shark Tank" style. Based on the appeal and merit of the students' plans and presentations, representatives from companies such as The Bascom Group, Dialexis Inc., and New Phase Marketing will determine the amount of funds to allocate to each business or social movement.

The investors will also select one business to advance to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Saunders Scholars Competition, where they will compete with students across the United States for college scholarships.

Event and parking are free and open to the public. Interviews with young entrepreneurs or members of the judging panel can be arranged.

The Investor Panel will be comprised of prominent local business people, including:
• Sarah Oberly - Business Development Analyst at The Bascom Group
• David Kim - Co-Managing Partner of The Bascom Group
• Marhnelle Hibbard - Co-Founder of Dialexis, Inc. and author of SOAR Selling & The Canoe Theory
• David Hibbard - Co-Founder of Dialexis, Inc. and author of SOAR Selling & The Canoe Theory
• Sheila Joy - President of New Phase Marketing

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy:

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) is a 501(C) 3 offering groundbreaking year-long classes that teach middle and high school students how to start and run their own businesses. Throughout the class, students develop business ideas, write business plans, conduct market research, pitch their plans to a panel of investors for startup funds, and launch and run their own, fully formed companies and social movements. The project-based program empowers students to take charge of their futures.

Founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kauffman Foundation, YEA! today serves thousands of students nationwide. In 2011, the United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation became a national sponsor and partner of the Academy to help celebrate the spirit of enterprise among today's youth and tomorrow's future leaders.

YEA! bridges the business and educational communities to fulfill its mission of teaching more students how to make a job, not just take a job. YEA! is made possible by The Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the E. Philip Saunders Foundation. For more information, visit yeausa.org.

About StandUp For Kids:

STANDUP FOR KIDS (SUFK), founded in 1990, is a national non-profit organization whose target population is assisting homeless and at risk individuals between the ages of 12 and 24. Our core mission is to end the cycle of youth homelessness. Trained counselors help find, stabilize, and assist homeless and at-risk kids to attain productive and fulfilling lives off the streets. Our organization's focus is on prevention, outreach support, transitional housing and providing an array of resources and services to help homeless and at-risk youth on their journey to becoming self-sufficient adults.

The SUFK - Orange County Chapter was launched in 2003. In 2016, Orange County volunteers logged over 1,400 incidences of support and over 5,000 hours of service. From a youth support standpoint, 63 were provided housing support, and over 250 were tutored and/or assisted with figuring out their educational goals.

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