There was a big turnout for the 3rd Annual Entrepreneurship Fair at Wiggins High School on Tuesday, May 7th, as Middle and High School students from grades 6-12 from all over NE Colorado participated. The event is put on by the Generation Schools Network & the Colorado Rural Education Collaborative. Students there were from Wiggins, Brush, Fort Morgan, Weldon Valley, Roosevelt HS, Eaton HS, Weld Central, Platte Valley & Holyoke.
The competition brings together youth-driven business ideas, as the students try to tackle real-world issues with starting a business with a service or products and creating business plans to move forward. They learn everything from tackling budgets while trying to make a profit, to marketing and setting long and short-term goals. There were groups and individuals selling everything from candles to clothing and offering services such as auto towing and repair.

The guest speaker at the event was Media Logic Radio owner Wayne Johnson, who spoke about his own story of how he went from driving a tractor in his youth and enjoying listening to the radio, to eventually owning 7 radio stations in NE Colorado. Being on the radio was his passion, and he followed that passion throughout his life, even if it meant leaving college after a year to go work in the natural gas industry full-time, while working part-time in radio, to earn money to eventually buy a radio station. That’s a condensed version of his story for certain, but the basics of that seemed to hit home with a lot of students listening.
There was a lot of participation this year as $6,000 in cash prizes would be awarded to the finalists.
Here is the winner list from the event, with the students’ names and their business:
Brandon Adler, Cooper Hielscher, Macey Maloney: MBC Candles - Holyoke Middle School
Braylin Herman: Dragon Fashion - Holyoke Middle School
Jaeylynn Miner: Amazing Jae's Creations - Homeschool
Addison Hodsen: Ringside - Eaton High School
Tate Kelly, Caleb Breuer: Pera Comics - Platte Valley Middle School
Lucy White, Amaya Kneipper, Crystal Ortega, Zachay Epperson: Whiskers and Latte - Roosevelt High School
Ashley Clement: Precious Pointers - Wiggins High School
Annalena Werner: A Bite of Joy - Wiggins High School
Addison Mayer: Playful Pollen Honey Co - Wiggins High School
Izabella Talmich: BYB - Wiggins Middle School