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Entrepreneurial Studies Students Compete in Pitch Night Finals

Each year, a cohort of Nichols School students take part in the Entrepreneurial Studies elective. Throughout the year students learn how to conduct product research, create a value proposition, pitch a new product and much more.
 
The culmination of this class is the annual Pitch Night competition, which was held this year on Tuesday, April 27. Entrepreneurial Studies teachers Meg Auerbach and Sandy Smith each led four teams through the pitch process. Out of the eight semifinal presentations which were shared this spring at Upper School meetings, four were selected to advance to the finals.
 
Hydrocover, pitched by Kolby Amici ‘21, Tony Zhou ’21 and Alex Musielak ‘21, is a hydrophobic (water-repelling) cover that prevents snow, ice and sleet from building up on a car’s windshield. Hydrocover was selected for a peer award for Best Idea.
 


Oh Snow!
, pitched by Trey Denman ‘21, Dominic Derenda ‘21, Sean Hogan ‘21 and Sophia Vukas ‘21, developed a product called the Grippy, a flexible shoe attachment with a high-grip pad to significantly increase friction and reduce slips and falls in snowy or icy weather. Oh Snow! was selected as the overall winner on Pitch Night and received peer awards for Best Presentation and Best Overall.
 


Skill Sharpener
, pitched by Case Darby ‘21, Kevin Haley ’21 and Aaron Stein ‘21, is a tutoring marketplace for students to indicate their interest in extra education in a subject and pair them with teachers looking to earn extra income by offering tutoring services.
 


Wii Chat
, pitched by Giuseppe Fiorillo ‘22, Jack McDonald ’21 and Michael Stewart ‘21, is a product concept that uses a Bluetooth adapter, headphones, and mobile app to enable group chat functionality on Nintendo Wii, like more modern gaming consoles.
 

The four finalist teams presented a short pitch presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session with four judges from various disciplines: Alexis Agnello ’98, Administrative Vice President and Group Manager for WNY Commercial Banking at M&T Bank; Julie Alford ’84, Middle School math and science teacher at Nichols School; Mark Lippman ’80, Managing Director at Protiviti leading their security and privacy practice in the mid-Atlantic region; and Raj Suchak P’25, CEO of Grit Seed Inc. and author of “Hire for Grit.”
 
Entrepreneurial Studies students also created infomercials to play during the Pitch Night finals, advertising Nichols-branded water bottles that were designed by students during the fall semester and are on sale in the Nichols bookstore.
 
Congratulations to all the students who participated in Entrepreneurial Studies this year!
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