Judges Doubly Impressed By Student Entrepreneurs
Monday, May 22, 2006; Page D08
The teenagers who gathered at AOL LLC headquarters in Dulles on Friday for a regional business-plan competition may have been impressed from the start by the setting, the panel of high-powered executives judging their ideas and the promise of up to $1,500 in seed capital to start their ventures.
They may have been doubly impressed when the judges -- including their host, AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis -- pronounced the winners so deserving that they doubled the prize money from their own pockets, according to sponsors of the event.
So Aaron Sacks, a student at Montgomery Blair High School in Montgomery County, went home with $3,000 to expand You're On Deck, his business providing customized playing cards with the name or logo of a customer's company on the back of each card.
Second-place winner Thomas Dant, also of Montgomery Blair, picked up $1,500 for Fine Foto, his service providing photography for special events.
And Tia Jones of Suitland High School in Prince George's County won $1,000 for Just Tia, which makes one-of-a-kind purses for teenagers.
The semiannual competition is sponsored by the Greater Washington chapter of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
-- Larry Liebert
