CHS's Cord Schneider to Compete in Michigan

The votes are in and the winners have been contacted! Cord Schneider's business plan for Mega Fab won the judge's notice, so Schneider will be participating in the Youth Entrepreneur's (YE) Start-Up Challenge Final Presentation at the Entrepreneurship Expo at US Nationals in Dearborn, Michigan, on May 31.

When Schneider heard that he had qualified for the Start-Up Challenge Final, he was excited but quick to add, "It's not over. I can still do more to improve my pitch. I don't want to lose!"

Schneider and his family will fly-in to Detroit where he will compete against other YE students from across the nation in the Start-Up Challenge, which will be held at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn. Here, he will pitch his business idea on the big stage! There will be a number of judges and a chance at $50,000 in prize money.

Schneider, who is a senior at Chinook High School, submitted his entrepreneurship idea with a three-minute video to state level competition through his Vocational Education Instructor Robin Allen, who is running a pilot program with four other YE teachers in the state. Schneider has twenty days to create a five minute presentation for the national competition.

"By May 24th, I have to create a five minute slide show and present it, convincing the judge's that my idea is the best. I need to appeal to their desire to invest." Anyone listening to Schneider's passion about the Challenge will come away knowing something about his competitiveness.

Allen described the curriculum of a YE classroom as one that focuses on the application of an idea – an idea that students can own. It brings business studies to life through experiential learning, executed in market-based scenarios. Given that focus, YE ignites a passion for entrepreneurship and provides the practical experience necessary to apply it to real life situations.

Similar to the competition on Shark Tank, the entrepreneurial-themed reality show, YE's The Big Idea is a platform where young people pitch their boldest and most creative ideas. Often, products or ideas are born out of necessity; other times they grow from a seed that sprouts and takes shape. After several contestants shared their revenue models and business plans through videos submitted for the state level competition, the judges selected ten finalists: Mega Fab (Cord Schneider's custom bumper and grille guard business), Kynlee's Kreations (a custom t-shirt printing business), DeLIGHTful Designs (earrings made with leather), AngleTrack (a software system that measures an angle shot in basketball) Easy Auto Fast Food Tray (a vehicle accessory for storing food, cell phone, and other transportable items), Mobile Barber (quality barbering services on wheels that target busy people or the elderly and those who have difficulty leaving their homes), Teether Treats (organic dog treats that target teething pain in puppies), Hand-Me-Ups (an altering service for upgrading second-hand and older clothing), Change 4 Kids (a team of five young people who wish to create a nonprofit organization that will empower youth-ages 15-21, educate them, and give them the tools for financial literacy), and Avant Garde Music (providing access to music lessons to community-based youth).

The eleventh contestant, Reema Mousa from Witchita, Kansas, was selected through a People's Choice voting campaign. With her business, HoopHers, Mousa pitched an idea for basketball shorts designed for a woman's body.

According to Lois Hairston, YE Communications Marketing Manager, "The Big Idea – Start-Up Challenge in which Cord is competing is separate from the YE Summit. The final competition component of The Big Idea – Start-Up Challenge is the event in Dearborn. The competition is actually a module of The STEMIE Coalition's 2019 National Invention Convention, and Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) is the presenting sponsor of the Entrepreneurship Expo. If Cord attends Summit, it would be because he applied or was invited, not from the results of the Start-Up Challenge."

The STEMIE Coalition bridges Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs with Invention and Entrepreneurship-hence the name: STEM + Invention + Entrepreneurship = STEMIE. With the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and other changes in education frameworks, students have the chance to learn real-world application of the knowledge they gain in schools, especially those schools that use innovative resources provided by both STEMIE and YE and who empower students by instilling critical-thinking, creative problem-solving, analytical skills, and confidence for life.

In the fall, Schneider is planning to attend college at MSU-Northern where he will declare Diesel Mechanics as his major. He will study Farm Mechanics as his minor area of focus.

"Reflecting on his son's achievement, John Schneider said, "Cord is different than our other two children. He loves to build and work with his hands."

The younger Schneider finds fabrication satisfying: "I enjoy the doing," he said. "I like that there are no instructions and that I am not relying on someone else's work. Sure, I get ideas from designs that I see, but I customize those and build them myself."

In his Mega Fab business, Schneider doesn't just fabricate bumpers and grille guards. He is currently fabricating a custom order for a three point attachment for handling hay bales.