The competitors made their pitches, the Dragons made their decisions, and its final; the winners of the first Junior Dragon’s Den competition were named Friday, June 6 in a suspenseful evening of area teens showing off their business acumen in front of a live audience at the Charles Bailey Theatre in Trail.
In the junior category for grades 8 to 10, the first place and $2,500 prize went to Kyla Koolman, a Grade 8 student from Stanley Humphries Secondary in Castlegar, for her Fresh Skin Care locally made, organic skin care product line.
In the senior category, for students in grades 11 and 12, the first place prize and cash went to Tim Baldwin and Jordan Strobel, two Grade 11 J.L. Crowe students, for their Ebon Supply Co., which offers a line of skate, surf, and snowboard apparel, offering stylized shorts, hoodies, and accessories.
Second place and $1,500 in the senior’s went to Eric Gonzales, for his Eric Gonzales Video company, and his well-crafted video production unit.
Finally, the third place $1,000 prize in the senior’s category went to Sierra and Maddie Morehouse, who are grades 11 and 12 at Castlegar’s Stanley Humphries, for Gravity Power, an innovative electrical power generation turbine design that can be installed in waste water pipes in apartment or high-rise buildings which, according to the student’s demonstration and estimates, could provide as much as $2,500 per unit, per year in electrical savings for consumers.
“It was an awesome first go,” said Jr. Dragon’s Den coordinator, John Reed, entrepreneurial services coordinator for Community Futures of Greater Trail. “We’re putting a video presentation of the show together for Shaw Cable so we can share it with the community. We’ll be approaching the Columbia Basin Trust for assistance with funding to take the competition basin wide next year.”