Since September, students in entrepreneurship have worked diligently on their own unique businesses, partnering with classmates to develop and pitch their ideas. Beginning seven years ago, Junior Achievement E2 is an annual event held on November 18 this year at St. Edwards University, featuring their largest student turnout to date. The event is intended to connect Austin’s diverse professionals with high school students, teaching them design thinking and entrepreneurial skills through various sessions.
On the actual event day, students meet with their sponsors for final coaching and present their pitch presentations in front of a panel of judges. After each competitor presents, the walls come down forming a giant hall, where they finally announce all the winners for each category to everybody present. Coming in first place were sophomores Virginia Glass, Molly Macintosh, and Kenzie Owens for their app Buddy Bus, which won $300.00. Their team developed an app-based solution to improve student transportation. Virginia reflected, “The feedback that resonated with us most was when the judges proposed we pair with AISD to involve more of our Austin High community.”
James Stewart and his partners, Matis Gonzales, Anthony James, and Miles Jarratt, created Localite, a social media-style app designed to engage teenagers with their communities. “[We] wanted a fun, engaging app that can bring teens together and help find local spots, rather than like a bunch of big, popular spots,” commented Junior James Stewart. “And by having individuals add anything that they want onto the app, you can get local [suggestions].” Similar to the popular website Do512, Localite was created specifically with teenagers in mind. Its goal is to help students in Austin discover places and events to attend, forcing them to explore the community and city they’ve grown up in.
“We realized that our problem, our biggest problem, [was] that we [couldn’t] find anything to do,” stated James. When first searching for ideas on how to develop their app, the team “wanted something that we’d actually use and be interested in instead of just something that felt like a chore, was boring.” Spending a semester on a school project is intense, with James stating he spent upwards of 25 hours on it alone. But having a genuine passion for your work makes it easier. Working on a solution to their peers’ boredom was also expedited by recent technologies. “We developed the app, which was easier than expected because of AI. There are all these AI app builders.” The majority of the time put into Localites’ creation, however, came from polishing their work. “We built the presentation, and we just created more and more ideas. We went through the app, and anytime we saw room for improvement, I would make changes. We would make changes based on whatever it is and then keep improving it until the time of the presentation.”
Fortunately for Localite, their hard work paid off. “We won. Our group won $200,” said James. Two Austin High teams won at the event, with Buddy Bus taking home 1st place, and Localite securing 2nd. The funds are intended to go towards further developing the app, which they intend to do next semester. “Our students did an outstanding job representing Austin High. We survived Mercury in retrograde,” expressed entrepreneurship teacher and sponsor Mr. Steele. “This is an entrepreneurial town. This is an app-making town. The students should be proud of themselves.”
