AISD Students Recognized For Their Big Ideas At The "What's Your Big Idea?" Entrepreneurship Contest Finalists Ceremony

Arlington TX

12 May, 2022

2:58 PM

Description

Press release from Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce: May 9, 2022 On Saturday, April 30th, finalists for the "What's Your Big Idea?" Entrepreneurship Contest, in partnership with the Arlington Independent School District, were celebrated at a special award ceremony. After 2 years of being virtual, this ceremony was filled with excitement from all parties involved. We had students, teachers, principals and parents all celebrating the amazing ideas of third through eighth graders. The ceremony began at 2 PM with a HOLLA! from Rock T. He spoke on his time as an AISD student and how he always had big ideas as a kid. Rock T encouraged finalists to continue thinking big because one day they could make their big ideas come to life. After the small opener, a Presentation of Colours took place thanks to the Arlington Police Department Honor Guard. When the Honor Guard presented the colours and were at attention, two choirs, Beckham Elementary and Gunn Junior High, sung a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem. As the choir filed out, Rock T began to tell his story of entrepreneurship. Rock T spoke about how he was so passionate about doing good for the community and making his dreams come true that he was persistent. So persistent that he even worked for free at a job so that he could show them everything he had to offer. With his big ideas, Rock T has been able to become very successful and has truly made Arlington proud. You can find Rock T as the sports editor for The Rickey Smiley Morning Show or founder of the ROCKTEEN Youth Foundation. After an inspiring story from Rock T, Mayor Jim Ross had a video appearance congratulating the student finalists and officially declaring that April 30th will be Entrepreneurship day in Arlington! This was a surreal moment for kids and adults alike. It really showed how much the Mayor appreciates innovations and entrepreneurship, in general. Michael Jacobson, President & CEO of the Greater Arlington Chamber, took the stage to congratulate finalists on their big ideas. Jacobson gave thanks to Arlington ISD and district staff for educating the next generation of entrepreneurs. He also thanked business leaders who took time out of their busy schedules to volunteer throughout the year to make the event possible. Jacobson then gave a little insight into the Chamber and our partnership with AISD through a program called Partners in Education (PIE). After Michael thanked all of our wonderful sponsors, Rock T took the stage for the final time and played Name That Innovator with College of Engineering Professor, Carter Tiernan and Duff Junior High 7th Grader, Libby Dee-kine. The rules for the game were simple, Rock T will give hints to describe an entrepreneur or an engineer, in which, Libby and Professor Carter would have to ring their bell to give an answer to who they they thought Rock T was describing. The game ended with Libby Dee-kine answering all 5 innovators correctly, most of the time with very few clues. This just shows how smart our future generations are becoming. Rock T then handed the stage back over to Michael Jacobson to introduce the elected officials that were present at the event. Jacobson mentioned the impact that this contest had for the community and the fact that it is the largest (and best) curriculum-based entrepreneurship contest in the country through a community partnership. He then proceeded to read a short letter that Governor Abbott and First Lady Cecilia Abbott wrote to let attendees know just how important the event is to them. After the letter was read, it was time to introduce the Superintendent of AISD, Dr. Marcelo Cavazos. Dr. Carvazos recognized the schools with the highest participation in this year's contest and their principals. Each principal was asked to come onto the stage and receive a gift bag. Everyone cheered for their continued contribution to the future of education. Overall, 40 schools participated, 34 were elementary schools and 6 were junior high schools. Listed below are the top participating schools: Top 6 participating elementary schools: Butler Elementary Corey Academy Ditto Elementary Jones Academy Little Elementary Morton Elementary Top 3 participating junior high schools: Bailey Junior High Gunn Junior High Workman Jr High Dr. Carvazos then sat down and Mr. Jacobson introduced the main Emcee for the event, Chloe Lewis. Lewis is a UTA graduate and a local entrepreneur. She hyped up the crowd to get everyone excited to receive their medals and awards. This year we received over 2500 entries and had over 700 finalists! Chloe Lewis explained the order of how finalists would come up to the stage and with the help of Micah Green, Fine Arts Coordinator of Theater & Dance for AISD, each finalist would receive recognition for their amazing big idea. To demonstrate how students should line up and walk across the stage we had some cool mascots at the event, Pegasus from the Dallas Wings and Toro from Tarrant County College. We are so glad that they were able to join us for the event! After all of our finalists in attendance were recognized, Chloe took some time to thank all of our volunteers, Chamber staff and everyone who worked so hard to make the event happen. Finally, a drumroll began to announce the 36 top winners for the contest. Each winner would receive a trophy and a gift bag full of amazing goodies to celebrate their great idea. Listed below are all of the 1st,2nd, and 3rd place winners: First place winners: ART 3rd Grader Mia Esparza 4th Grader Wylie Wells 5th Grader Duyen Le 6th Grader Maddy Hajer 7th Grader Tran Le 8th Grader Natalia Radcliff ESSAY 3rd Grader Marco Jimenez 4th Grader Abigail Durand 5th Grader Roman Torres 6th Grader Izabella Velasco 7th Grader Oliver Clarke 8th Grader Aisha Elsaad Second place winners: ART 3rd Grader Zoe Kuntschik 4th Grader Owen Caldwell 5th Grader Elizabeth Sanchez 6th Grader Delia Bass 7th Grader Ellie Perales 8th Grader Bailee Royes ESSAY 3rd Grader Jett Hurst 4th Grader Valentina DeAntunano 5th Grader Anthony Cruz 6th Grader Angelica Phan 7th Grader Giselle Estrada 8th Grader Amr Yousif Third place winners: ART 3rd Grader Senna Sackett 4th Grader Kayden Gilbert 5th Grader Julia Kim 6th Grader Jeorgia Woolard 7th Grader Ma'Kaylah Stevens 8th Grader Liana Alvarado ESSAY 3rd Grader Jackson Green 4th Grader Kayden Gilbert 5th Grader Kambry Douglas 6th Grader Landon Fearing 7th Grader Landynn Ahrlett 8th Grader Trajan Morris All first place winners get to go to an entrepreneurship summer camp at UTA. This is a camp hosted by UTA's new Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Innovation and will allow the top winners from the past three years to also attend since the event went virtual during the Pandemic. And that's the show! On behalf of the Chamber, we want to thank everyone who spent countless hours on this event and to all of the teachers who got their kids to enter into the contest. It was such a fun event and we are so glad that we can be back in-person. We will see you again for another year of big ideas in 2023! This press release was produced by Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author's own.