TEAM EFFORT
—Pictured are four members of the 2018 Johanna Boss High School team who participated in the Annual High School Entrepreneurs Business Plan Competition. Shown are Lisimba B., Jubai C., Steven C. and Ethan R. Not pictured is team member Brayan R.
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Project ECHO Inspires Hope!
Incarcerated Youth Find New Future
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S
tudents at Johanna Boss High School now have hope as an elective part of their curriculum, thanks to Project Echo.
One of four juvenile justice public schools under the California Education Authority, the Johanna Boss student body consists of young men who have been incarcerated for heinous crimes. According to their teachers, many students saw their future as bleak, with the only viable choices being unemployment or more criminal activity.
Their attitude was reversed when the CEA began running
Project Echo's
year-long entrepreneurship program within the facility in 2015. Currently, two classes dedicated to Project Echo are taught by entrepreneurship teacher Jeff Perine, overseen by his coach and teacher mentor Paul Bettencourt.
"My students had a big disconnect with entrepreneurship before Project ECHO," Perine stated. "But now, realizing that a venture requires less money than they thought and can be a part time pursuit, economic freedom comes alive."
Bettencourt concurs with Perine's view. "These students seldom thought they would live after age 30," he said. "But now they have a change in their perspective, envisioning a way to survive."
And Perine is learning his own new lessons in the program, through his students.
"They (the students) connect well educationally and intellectually with Project ECHO," Perine observed. "It's inspirational and both the students and I are always shocked by the process—crunching the numbers, doing the market research. It’s very productive for them to develop the ability to do independent research so they can decide if they have a good idea or not the minute they walk in the classroom. Project Echo captivates their minds.”
A team from Johanna Boss High School will be competing in Project ECHO’s 15th Annual High School Entrepreneurs’ Business Plan Competition to be held May 5 on the UCLA campus. Because the six students participating are unable to leave incarceration, they will submit their entry via a video.
With the culmination of a year's worth of work, the young men’s experience with Project ECHO remains life changing. “Whether any of my students will be paroled in a few weeks or a in few years, when they walk out these doors they believe there is still hope for them,” Perine said.
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Congratulations to Our 2018 Competition Participants & Winning Teams!
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What a GREAT day!
Hundreds of ECHO’s high school teams, teachers, MBA volunteers/Mentors, Judges, Board members, families, friends, and supporters gathered at UCLA Anderson School on April 8, 2018 for the 14th Annual High School Entrepreneurs’ Business Plan Competition! Above, team BRANDED from Charter Oak High School celebrates their overall
competition win!
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APPLAUDING our Class of 2018!
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OVERALL COMPETITION WINNER
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BrandED – Charter Oak High School
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1st Place: FlyCuts, Phineas Banning High School
2nd Place: Spartan, St. John Bosco High School
3rd Place: Bosco E-Sports, St. John Bosco High School
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TECHONOLOGY BASED BUSINESS WINNING TEAMS
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1st Place: Kai, Break Through Training Center
2nd Place: Pendulum, Break Through Training Center
3rd Place: SimplyPill, St. John Bosco High School
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FOOD BASED BUSINESS WINNING TEAMS
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1st Place: Trippy Buns, St. John Bosco High School
2nd Place: Three Square Meals, Alliance Luskin Academy High School
3rd Place: Sip, City Honors Preparatory High School
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EMILY CHAN MOST INSPIRATIONAL TEAM AWARD
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Long Beach Financial Assistance Center, Long Beach Polytechnic High School
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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD
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Umood Health Corporation, Youth CEO Academy
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STANDOUT MOMENTS -Competition 2018
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HIGH FIVE!
Meyer and Renee Luskin (first row, second and third from left) congratulate the team from the Alliance Renee & Meyer Luskin Academy High School!
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Devan Sood,
21 Year-Old Serial Entrepreneur and ECHO Board member, delivers a dynamic Keynote Presentation!
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8-Clap Take It Away!
ECHO teachers, families, mentors, and Board hop onto the stage to lead the UCLA 8-Clap celebrating our on going partnership with their
MBAs! Go Bruins!
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Thank you
– to all of our dedicated Corporate Sponsors and Supporters of Project ECHO’s 2018 Business Plan Competition.
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Edison International
Farmers Insurance
Fox Rothschild LL
Friars Charitable Trust
Kayne Anderson Rudnick Wealth Advisors
Manna Foundation
Pink’s Hot Dogs
UCLA Anderson School
Valencia.com and FIVEPOINT
Yoobi
Young Presidents Organization (YPO)
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Become a Project ECHO sponsor
today and get a boat load of customized benefits that will expose your product or service to almost 1,000 total guests between the ages of 14 and 30, their parents, teachers, and ECHO volunteers.
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Thank you, Farmers Insurance, for your sponsorship and booth!
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ECHO BOARD Spotlight
Jeff Kravitz, ESQ
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Why I Support Project ECHO
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I joined Project ECHO
at the urging of my friend, Scott Fennel, who’s on the Board. I had mentioned to him that I was judging Academic Decathlon and that it was great, but all of the kids seemed to already be on a college path. I went to one of the ECHO competitions and I was hooked. I attended a lower middle-class school and when we beat Beverly Hills High in debate,
my world changed forever
. I wanted to help kids from all backgrounds participate, be exposed to other high school students, and grow.
ECHO thrilled me because it taught high school students to work
cooperatively on entrepreneurial projects.
I agreed to serve as Board Chair for two terms and I am excited by our new leadership.
It remains one of my passions.
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Jeff Kravitz specializes in Business, Entertainment, and Intellectual Property law. His firm, Fox Rothschild, is a dedicated sponsor of Project ECHO’s competition. More at
www.foxrothschild.com
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Thanks to ALL of our dedicated Board members who volunteer their time and passion to ECHO!
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Board members (left to right) Jeff Weigel, Treasurer; ECHO Founder Chip Goodman; Board Co-Chair Dustin Gale; and Jeff Kravitz, immediate past chair; not shown Co-Chair Lee Fox, Scott Fennel, Devan Sood, and David Tokofsky.
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Team BrandED Launches their Business!
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Team BrandEd
students are Adan P., Heather L., Debbie T., and Renae D.
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BrandED is a full-service school spirit design company that creates original graphics for screening, along with complete apparel collections and customized accessories. In addition, BrandED provides a fully customized e-commerce site to display products and allow custom orders that are available for any event, club, team, or activity, replacing the traditional on-campus student store. Check out their store today at
cohsbranded.com
. “It’s Time to Gear Up & Get BrandED!”
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Their Teacher is a Winner, Too!
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Camille Strycula
of Charter Oak High School, received the Chip Goodman Entrepreneurial Teacher of the Year award for her outstanding commitment to her students and her tenured Project ECHO participation. Among everything else, Camille can boast that her students won the Business Plan Competition for two consecutive years, in 2017 and 2018.
(Camille is pictured with ECHO Founder, Chip Goodman).
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Business Plan Finals Competition: Sunday, May 5, 2019
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CALL TO ACTION!
7 Cool Things You Can Do Today for
Our Young Entrepreneurs
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1
Sign up to be a
Mentor
projectecho.org/mentor
2
Apply to
Judge
and lend your expertise
projectecho.org/judge
3
Refer a school
to participate in Project ECHO
projectecho.org/enroll
4
Connect us
with your company’s grants/
sponsorship team
projectecho.org/partnership
5
Invite
ECHO to present at your company’s
Volunteer Day
projectecho.org/volunteer
6
Help send a team
to the finals for just $75 a month
projectecho.org/donate
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SUPPORT PROJECT ECHO TEENS
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Your gifts fund teens to participate in ECHO’s life-changing program & Competition. As a non-profit, we need everyone’s support.
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For more information about Project ECHO contact:
Matilda Albano, Program Director, at malbano@projectecho.org
Peggy Hall Kaplan, Director of Development, at phkaplan
@projectecho.org
Suzanne Phillips, Director of Corporate Philanthropy, at sphillips@projectecho.org
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