Indiana high school students to attend 2014 Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Fifty Indiana high school students from 26 counties will attend the eighth annual Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy, June 22-27 at Purdue University's West Lafayette campus.

Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy is a weeklong program during which students are introduced to entrepreneurship and mentored by local business leaders and Purdue Research Park experts. Students also experience campus life at a leading research university.

The participating students will test the viability of a business idea, identify capital needs to start a company and devise a go-to-market strategy. The program is based on a methodology called "So what? who cares? why you?®" developed by Wendy Kennedy, a technology industry executive and author.

At the conclusion of the academy, teams give an investor presentation to a panel of judges. Members of the winning team will receive tuition vouchers that are accepted at all Purdue University campuses. In addition, officials at Purdue University's Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program will waive one course requirement for all attendees who complete the academy.

"Students who participate in the academy are more likely to pursue an entrepreneurship-related field in college, and many indicate an interest in leading or joining a startup," said Tim Peoples, director of the academy.

The 2014 academy participants are:

HOMETOWN – ZIP CODE – FIRST NAME – LAST NAME – SCHOOL

Ashley – 46705 – Emily – Stoy – Angola High School
Bloomington – 47404 – Young – Park – Bloomington High School North
Bremen – 46506 – Noah – Miller – Bremen High School
Brook – 47922 – Grace – Wernert – South Newton High School
Brownsburg – 46112 – Chad – Hale – Brownsburg High School
Carmel – 46033 – Jack – Johnson – Carmel High School
Carmel – 46033 – Ben – Scholer – Carmel High School
Carmel – 46033 – David – Torres – St. Theodore Guerin High School
Crown Point – 46307 – Da'Ja'Nay – Askew – Merrillville High School
Crown Point – 46307 – Ralaunda – Bradshaw – Merrillville High School
Crown Point – 46307 – YiQi – Duan – Merrillville High School  
Crown Point – 46307 – Sarah – Zia – Crown Point High School
Elkhart – 46514 – Joseph – Holtz – Elkhart Central High School
Elkhart – 46517 – Abigayle – Carter – Jimtown High School
Evansville – 47712 – Lucas – Weinzapfel – F.J. Reitz High School
Evansville – 47715 – Shane – Flanagan – Castle High School
Fishers – 46037 – Bryce – Hibbler – Hamilton Southeastern High School
Fishers – 46038 – Amanda – Balay – Fishers High School
Fishers – 46038 – Michael – Hagen – Fishers High School
Fishers – 46038 – Kaitlyn – Leighton – Fishers High School
Fort Wayne – 46814 – Ryan – Rotundo – Bishop Dwenger High School
Fountaintown – 46130 – Alexander – Roberts – Triton Central High School
Fowler – 47944 – Justin – Rice – Benton Central High School
Franklin – 46131 – Alyxandria – Sundheimer – Franklin Community High School
Granger – 46530 – David – Preuss – Trinity School at Greenlawn
Indianapolis – 46226 – Joseph – Viselli – Heritage Christian School
Indianapolis – 46229 – Brody – Harter – New Palestine High School
Kokomo – 46907 – Kyle – Orzech – Taylor High School
Lafayette – 46905 – Hayley – Linback – Faith Christian School
Lafayette – 47909 – Joseph – Hutzel – Central Catholic High School
LaPorte – 46350 – Matthew – Bartels – LaPorte High School
Lawrenceburg – 47025 – Kaleb – Guess – East Central High School
Linton – 47441 – Joel – Travis – Linton – Linton-Stockton High School
Mishawaka – 46544 – Grace – Gebo – Mishawaka High School
Montgomery – 47588 – Stephen – Lang – Barr-Reeve High School
Mount Vernon – 47620 – Sydney – Ziegler – Signature School
New Castle – 47362 – Kristin – Martin – New Castle High School
New Whiteland – 46184 – Matthew – Williams – Whiteland Community High School
Newburgh – 47630 – Zuha – Adeel – Signature School
Newburgh – 47630 – Ganesh – Viswanathan – Signature School 
Noblesville – 46062 – Zachary – Baker – Noblesville High School
South Bend – 46635 – Nicholas – Cramer – Trinity School at Greenlawn
Valparaiso – 46383 – Lyndsay – Herbst – Valparaiso High School
Warsaw – 46582 – Brandon – Fox – Wawasee High School
Washington – 47501 – Elaynna – Brashear – Washington High School
West Lafayette – 47906 – Scott – Clark – West Lafayette High School
West Lafayette – 47906 – Megan – Snyder – Harrison High School
West Lafayette – 47906 – Tyler – Stout – Benton Central High School
West Lafayette – 47906 – Liam – Trumble – Harrison High School 
Westfield – 46074 – Josh – Cruse – Westfield High School

Duke Energy Foundation is the headline partner for the academy. Other partners are Accent on Business; Arni's; Awards Unlimited; Bill DeFouw Chevrolet-BMW; Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship; Caterpillar Foundation; CSO Architect; the Denhart family with a matching gift from General Electric; Great Harvest Bread Co.; Hot Box Pizza; Knoy Apparel; Purdue College of Agriculture; Purdue College of Engineering; Purdue College of Technology; Purdue Federal Credit Union; Purdue Krannert School of Management; Sign Art Etc.; and Stuart & Branigin.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The Purdue Research Park manages the Purdue Technology Centers in four sites in Indiana located in West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Merrillville and New Albany. The more than 260 companies located in the park network employ about 4,500 people who earn an average annual wage of $63,000. The park is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2014 Incubator Network of the Year by the National Business Incubator Association for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org

Writer: Vibha Salgamay, 765-588-5619, vsalgamay@prf.org 

Purdue Research Park contact: Steve Martin, 765-588-3342, sgmartin@prf.org