‘Remarkable creativity’: Staten Island students compete in ‘Shark Tank’-style business pitch

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Noah Rozin, a freshman at Staten Island Technical High School, wowed a “Shark Tank”-style panel of judges with his business plan earlier this month, introducing a group of local investors to his historical and educational board game. The ninth-grader, who earned a $2,200 seed money prize for his efforts, will now take his invention to compete on a national stage.

“The students worked painstakingly on every detail of their business plan — from their initial conceptual models to finalizing their actual product prototypes,” noted Dr. Janet Leslie, who served as instructor of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!), in which Rozin participated. “It gave me great joy to watch their final pitches in front of the Investor Panel. Congratulations to Noah Rozin, this year’s Staten Island Chamber of Commerce’s YEA awardee, and kudos to each and every student who competed.”

The event served as the culmination of the 2023 YEA! Cohort, a program that guides high school students through the process of starting a real business, including business plan development, pitching to an investor panel, obtaining funding, launching the venture and managing media campaigns.

By the conclusion of the YEA! Program, students are expected to have developed fully formed and functioning businesses, which are often carried on by students after graduation. This year’s YEA! class was comprised of 18 students, representing nearly every high school on the borough.

“Of all of the Chamber’s initiatives, YEA! is among the closest to my heart,” said Linda Baran, president and CEO of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce. “It is a thrill to see a budding entrepreneur enter the cohort with a seed of an idea and emerge with a fully formed business. These students set the stage for the next generation of businesses and demonstrate a tremendous amount of creativity. I can’t wait to see what they do next.”

Rozin’s business, “Ace of Ages,” an historical and educational board game that aims to integrate fun into modern-day learning, will now be entered into the YEA! National Saunders Competition.

Elle Barrera and Sophia Borthwick, who produced a business called “Hair for Won,” and Ben Wiseman, inventor of “Entropy Knives,” were named runners-up in the competition and received $1,175 and $825, respectively.

The 2023 YEA! cohort was made possible by presenting sponsor Con Edison, who championed this year’s YEA! program. The 2023 Investor Panel was sponsored by Amazon, Broadway Stages, Empire State Bank, Lions Pride Leadership Company, Mid Island Rotary, National Grid, Northfield Bank, Rotary Club of Staten Island and Staten Island’s Small Business Development Center.

YEA! also received support from Scholarship Partner Sponsors AVID Architecture, The Rab Wilkinson Foundation and CI RegentAtlantic. YEA!’s 2023 Media Sponsor was Staten Island Community Media, which documented the class, accompanied the cohort on site visits and developed video recaps.

Edward Burke, senior advisor to Borough President Vito J. Fossella, served as the event’s emcee.

“The Staten Island Chamber of Commerce is helping to inspire our next generation of dynamic business leaders through the Young Entrepreneurs Academy,” said Burke. “I regard this event as one of Staten Island’s best showcases for career building among young people. The atmosphere was like a sporting event — nail-biting and exciting. The students involved this year displayed remarkable creativity and savviness. I wouldn’t be surprised to see several of them launching their business enterprises professionally and stepping up as community leaders.”