Future Founders just wrapped up this year’s final two cohorts of our virtual Be Your Own Boss Internship Program. And thanks to the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund and their Ford Driving Dreams program, as well as the amazing volunteers at Motorola Solutions, ActiveCampaign, Kerosene Ventures, Softchoice, and spikeview, we are thrilled to announce that 15 of our interns were awarded a share of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes!
A fun, interactive, paid learning experience, the Be Your Own Boss Internship gives high school students from across Chicago the skills they need to take control of their future and succeed in the 21st Century. Over the course of two two-week cohorts this fall, our interns connected remotely to learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship, engage with members of the Chicago startup community, and apply the skills they learned on an internship project, working with their peers to develop and pitch new business ideas to a panel of esteemed judges.
For each cohort, judges ultimately declared one team the winner, and awarded each team member a share of the prizes. In addition, a People’s Choice Award recipient was chosen for each cohort. Read on to learn more about these teams and their prize-winning ideas.
Cohort 1 (October) Live Pitch Competition Winners ($250 cash prize): Score!: An ed-tech platform that gamifies homework to keep students engaged with their classes and provide teachers with a sure-fire way to increase classroom participation.
Cohort 1 (October) People’s Choice Video Pitch Competition Winners (tablets): Time Keeper: A browser extension that integrates with Google Classroom to help students schedule out their assignments and avoid the perils of procrastination.
Cohort 2 (November) Live Pitch Competition Winners ($250 cash prize): PrepEx: A personalized opportunity database for high school students to find, connect with, and apply to extracurricular and internship opportunities with transparency and ease.
Cohort 2 (November) People’s Choice Video Pitch Competition Winners (tablets): Pro-Tracker: A smart harness wearable device for pet owners to track their dog’s aggression and anxiety via heart rate, giving the dog owners time to redirect aggression or take their dog out of the situation before it escalates.
Future Founders is incredibly grateful to all the amazing students, speakers, mentors, volunteers, judges, and other individuals who made the Be Your Own Boss program possible. We’d also like to extend a special thank you to the long list of new and returning Future Founders community members who shared their time and expertise with our BYOB participants, including:
Be Your Own Boss will return with new cohorts in the spring of 2022. If you or someone you know might be interested in participating, be sure to join the waitlist by visiting our program page.
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