Three student teams to pitch business plans in annual startup challenge 

Finalists from three Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) universities will pitch their original business plans in the annual State System Startup Challenge. 

Students from California University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown University and Shippensburg University will compete for a top prize of $10,000 and second- and third-place prizes of $50,000 and $2,500 respectively. 

The students will be able to use the funds to support their start-up or expand their already existing business, PASSHE wrote in a press release this week. 

The finalists were whittled down from nearly 60 students and student teams from across PASSHE. 

“Educating and supporting student entrepreneurs is a priority for State System universities, and these amazing finalists demonstrate the innovation coming from our students and supported by our faculty,” said Board of Governors Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira. “Several past winners have launched their own businesses from the ideas born of this real-life experience, and I look forward to the new businesses that may emerge from this year’s competition.” 

The finalists include: 

• Erin Burney, Shippensburg University. Burney will be pitching IRE Productions, a prop making company servicing cosplayers. Customers can choose from prop weapons, armor and other accessories or provide their own designs to be built. 

• Shantal Ewell and Kevin Smyth, Kutztown University. The two are pitching Schedula Degree Planner, an online platform focused on college student and advisor interaction. The platform creates a personalized degree plan so students can avoid unnecessary courses. 
• Luke Melcher, George D’Angelo, Joseph Donatucci and Connor Egan, California University of Pennsylvania. The team is pitching their Vispec Safety System, which would add safety features for riders of electric skateboards, scooters, bicycles and other single-rider forms of transportation. The system monitors hazardous road conditions. 

Judging the event are: Laura Haffne, senior vice president and region bank president for the Greater Pennnsylvania Region for Wells Fargo; Matt Lutcavage, vice president of team experience and chief human resources officer for The Giant Company; Manny Mar, vice president for Bank of America; Mary Oliveira, chief membership officer for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, and Nandish Patel, founder and CEO of Phoenix Nexus in Bucks County.