Press Releases
ARC Announces Winners of 2003 Springboard Entrepreneurship Awards
WASHINGTON, March 18, 2003—The entrepreneurial education programs of six learning institutions in Appalachia have been selected by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) as winners of its 2003 Appalachian Youth Entrepreneurship Education Springboard Award. ARC, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, created this awards competition to recognize outstanding youth entrepreneurship education programs. The educators who developed the winning programs are: Nancy Compton of Hale County Technology Center, Greensboro, Alabama; Mitzi Holland of Monroe County High School, Tompkinsville, Kentucky; Douglas Bahnsen of Ripley-Union-Lewis Huntington Jr./Sr. High School, Ripley, Ohio; Carol Huffman, East Stroudsburg High School North, Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania; Kim Adair, Carroll County Public Schools, Hillsville, Virginia; and Michael Murray of United Technical Center, Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Each winner will receive a $2,000 grant award to support the ongoing work of the program. Accepting the award on behalf of the winning institutions at the annual meeting of the Development District Association of Appalachia in Washington on March 17 were: Nancy Compton, teacher, and Robin Horne, student, Hale County Technology Center; Mitzi Holland, teacher, and Amanda Brown, student, Monroe County High School; Douglas Bahnsen, teacher, and John Stohlman, student, Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Jr./Sr. High School; Gary Larrowe, teacher, and Anthony Leonard and Austin Larrowe, students, Carroll County Public Schools; and Michael Murray, teacher, and Stefan Harris and David Propst, students, United Technical Center.
The winning programs were ranked as the most successful entrepreneurial education programs in Appalachia for rural young people by a panel of independent experts convened by ARC. They were selected according to the following criteria:
- Programs that demonstrate how students gain competency in four critical elements of entrepreneurship: opportunity recognition, idea generation, venture creation and operation, and creative thinking;
- programs with clearly defined and measurable outcomes that provide value to the participants and to the local community; and
- programs that are sustainable and can be replicated.
Targeted to rural areas, these programs often serve as a "springboard" for Appalachian residents to launch their own businesses, creating jobs in their communities and further diversifying and strengthening the Region's economy.
ARC Federal Co-Chair Anne B. Pope commended this year's Springboard Award winners. "The educators receiving this award are inspiring Appalachian youth to reach as far as their imagination and energy can take them," she said. "By giving our young people the confidence and know-how to initiate their own business ventures, they are helping prepare the Region for the challenges of the twenty-first century. They deserve both our support and our recognition."
Partners supporting the Appalachian Youth Entrepreneurship Education Springboard Award include the Appalachian Regional Commission, the U.S. Department of Education, the National FFA Organization, Future Business Leaders of America, DECA, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, and the Development District Association of Appalachia.
Since 1997, ARC's multifaceted Entrepreneurship Initiative has supported more than 300 projects that will help create an estimated 1,300 new businesses and create or retain 7,500 jobs in the Appalachian Region.
2002 and 2003 Appalachian Youth Entrepreneurship Education Springboard Award Winners (Also available in PDF format—230 KB)
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