The five freshman from Sequoia High School, known as the Fantastic 5, did an experiment pairing Swedish fish with doughnuts, but it didn’t taste good, said Aranda. Instead, the teens made a mock California roll using gummy worms, rice crispy treats and fruit roll-ups.

Once the product was in place, the group had to do further research like the cost, marketing, manufacturing and philanthropic outreach. The detailed plan developed by the team over many hours since last fall took top prize at the 11th annual Youth Business Plan Competition held at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University earlier this month. The competition is sponsored by BUILD, a four-year entrepreneurial focused program that helps underserved youth start their own businesses, graduate from high school and get accepted to college. This year’s competition had 24 teams made up of 100 freshman from East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy and Carlmont, Sequoia and Woodside high schools.

By winning, the Fantastic 5 earned $500 and automatic acceptance into BUILD’s Youth Business Incubator where the students will receive seed funding and mentorship to launch their business.

“The energy at the business plan finals is amazing,” said Jim Lussier, managing partner at NorWest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, who served as one of this year’s judges. “What you have is kids who have worked so hard on their business plans. In the audience are their families and their teachers and the other teams. When one of the kids wins, the pride and energy you feel from that achievement by these kids is just amazing.”

The hard work comes with an opportunity to creatively develop a product while learning academic and life skills.

Kingston Jack, a freshman from Carlmont whose team DiCol took second, heard about the program and liked the idea.

DiCol developed a green friendly portable shoe cleaner, inspired by Jack. His new shoes got dirty the first day he wore them, which frustrated him. The group began researching various chemicals and recycled materials that could be utilized in the final product.

Students developed the product and then started researching what it would take to create a business around that product. Where will the materials come from? If they need to be imported, how much does that cost? What will the business cost? How much should employees make? To what community efforts will the company donate?

“A lot of these kids aren’t necessarily as interested in reading or writing or math as kids from other backgrounds. Using entrepreneurship, they are suddenly very interested,” said Lussier.

Students are given roles like CEO, vice president of marketing or manufacturing. Math becomes part of the budget and writing is tied to presentations. They are learning to shake people’s hands, dress appropriately, make contacts and answer with confidence.

Lussier recalled one judge asking the Fantastic 5 team if it had considered partnering with other local businesses as a location to sell the product. Students answered they had, and planned to follow up to get contact information later, he said with a laugh.

But the skills are not just viable in the business world. Jack noted the research skills came in handy when he had to do a paper for history this year.

Aranda said she learned more responsibility and confidence in her speaking.

Both students commented on how the BUILD class was unique, ending the year feeling more like a family.

To learn more about BUILD go to www.build.org.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.

Winners

First place: “Fantastic 5” from Sequoia High School: Briana Aranda, Mitch Gilmer, Myra Oropeza, Paolo Salvoni and Chelsea Texeira. Eric Kubrick of the Sequoia High faculty has served as their BUILD teacher and mentor this past year.

Second place: Carlmont High’s “DiCol” for their green friendly portable shoe cleaner: Alamoni Afungia, Kingston Jack, Azalee Arcand Lardin and Akshay Nithyanand (Vera Jacobson — teacher mentor)  

Third place: Sequoia High’s “Toppers” for their customized hats: Eder Franco, Jorge Garcia, Nestor Martinez, Steve Prado Campos and Jose Armando Sajuan (Dave Weyant — teacher mentor)

Fourth place: Woodside High’s “BaBay” for their faux flowers: Benjamin Arredondo, Adilene Escobar, Yarely Guzman, Alex Hipolito and Bianca Rebuelta (Fleur Uptegraft — teacher mentor)

East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy students took top honors for their written business plan.