Photo courtesy of UNT Dallas. Pictured from left to right are Jayliyah Fortenberry (3rd place winner, W. H. Adamson High School), Mars Ratliff (1st place winner, Woodrow Wilson High School) and Alexa Muzquiz (2nd place winner, Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy).
The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) hosted a “Shark Tank” style competition on July 18, and one Oak Cliff student took home a prize.
The competition served as a finale for The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Start-Up Summer Camp at UNT Dallas. The six-week camp, consisting of 14 DISD juniors and seniors, was geared toward helping students develop an entrepreneurial mindset while creating a pitch and detailed financial plan.
Eleven of the students went on to pitch their business ideas before an investment panel for a chance to win a $300 prize and a free trip to New York City to compete in a national pitch competition against other regional NFTE winners.
The winner was Mars Ratliff, 16, a junior at Woodrow Wilson High School. Her proposed business, Interio Interiors, features an app designed to help young and aspiring interior designers find customers and build their client base.
Ratliff will receive a $300 prize and a free trip to New York City in October, where she will compete in a national pitch competition among winners of other NFTE regions. They will appear before judges and investors who will be invited to provide capital to expand the students’ businesses and possibly take a stake in them.
Alexa Muzquiz, a student at Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy, and Jayliyah Fortenberry, a student at W. H. Adamson High School, were the second- and third-place finishers, respectively.
Muzquiz’s business, Alexas Flower Bouquets, is already up and running online, selling real roses and imitation roses made of ribbons. She will receive $200.
Fortenberry’s proposed business, called Glash, would create and sell special glue for false eyelashes, with natural ingredients and no chemicals. She will receive $100.
