Windermere High wins business development competition with Baby Buddy

The High School High Tech team from Windermere High took home the grand prize at the Project Venture competition Wednesday, March 1 in Orlando. Project Venture is a team competition for students with disabilities who participate in The Able Trust High School High Tech program.

To compete in Project Venture, HSHT students develop and execute a comprehensive business plan and 30-second video commercial for a company, product or service they would like to create.

The Windermere High team received a $1,000 award and successfully defended its 2022 Project Venture title with the victory. The team created Baby Buddy, an electronic bracelet set that uses sonar to alert a parent or guardian when the child is out of physical range.

Second- and third-place honors went respectively to the Union County HSHT and Bay County HSHT teams.

“We are so proud of all the teams who took part in this year’s competition,” said Allison Chase, president and CEO of The Able Trust. “This was the largest field of Project Venture entrants yet, with 19 High School High Tech sites extremely well-represented. Students who participate in High School High Tech learn skills that are important to their future. The Able Trust helps these students by connecting them to a broad range of academic, career development and experiential resources, and the Project Venture competition allows them to use these skills in a workplace simulation.”

Project Venture creates a forum for students to develop real-world skills, including working in groups, creating timelines, using written communications, problem solving and developing presentation skills. During the second phase of the competition, the three final teams gave an in-person pitch of their project to a panel of four judges, each including a slide show, the commercial and a Q&A session with the judges and audience members. Projects were graded on the written proposals and commercial, as well as their in-person presentation.