By LILLIAN GLAROS
PHOTO CREDIT: Lillian Glaros
After the death of her father, Karyn Chambers, now a rising 10th-grader at College Park Academy, said, she “had a hard time coping with that.” So she turned her focus to crocheting — her favorite hobby — to get her through.
Now she wants to start a home-based business called YarnStars to sell her crocheted pieces and teach others who struggle with loss and stress to crochet as a way to deal with losing loved ones.
“I found hobbies to help and I want to help others through, like, crochet and other arts and crafts,” Karyn said.
Karyn’s idea won sixth place for her age category in the 12th Annual Dureke iDEA Pitch Competition on June 8 at the Nyumburu Cultural Center on the University of Maryland campus.
The first-place winner in the collegiate level, which includes high school juniors and seniors and college students, is also from College Park Academy. Nasirah Leekins, who graduated in May, pitched a business that would create diverse dolls with natural human hair, available in a wide variety of textures and made with facial features, such as different eye colors, available for customization.
“I wanted to have high-quality dolls that are also inclusive,” Leekins said. “A lot of higher quality dolls are very Eurocentric, and I wanted to have high-quality, fancy dolls that look like me.”
The two College Park Academy students were among more than 20 young people, some on teams, who presented their business ideas to judges with the hope of winning funding and scholarships.
Surrounded by their parents and siblings at the competition run by WETATi Academy, the participants pitched ideas ranging from a car detailing business to one that would combine a dog park and a theme park.
Several other students from College Park Academy made pitches.
Three 10th-graders presented their idea for a brand called Delighted that would make nonirritating fragrances, inspired by Diego Villatoro’s love of scents and Jonathan Campbell’s allergy to conventional colognes and perfumes. They won fourth place in the competition for eighth- to 10th-graders.
“My grandma purchased me a cologne, right? … Within two hours I started breaking out,” Jonathan said. “So I realized that I’m allergic to the chemicals inside the fragrances.”
The group would make their fragrances from natural oils to prevent allergic reactions, which can be from a variety of chemicals, including alcohol.
Another team of College Park Academy 10th-graders presented an idea for a car detailing business, which they call Turbo Elite Detailing, winning first place for their age group.
Their business would sell car detailing packages, running up to $200 for premium service.
“We all are 16 and we’re all just now getting our permits and starting to drive,” student Jayden Williamson said. “So we decided, why not take our field of passion into cars?”
Two College Park Academy 11th-graders won third place in the collegiate division for their pitch of PM Foods, an organization that would mingle their love of cooking with a desire to feed food-insecure people.
“It’s something that’s been a big problem in the area, the homeless population in urban areas,” said student entrepreneur Manuel Perez, who pitched with classmate Paris White.
Other participants hailed from elementary, middle and high schools in Prince George’s and Howard counties, the District and Baltimore. One University of Maryland student also pitched.
Astrid Tagne Meleu, a rising junior information science major, took second place in the collegiate division with her business, Cordeaux A, an existing brand that sells imported purses and bags handcrafted by Cameroonian artisans.
She said she started her business to increase representation of Cameroonian culture and talent here in the U.S.
“The problem is that there’s not a platform for capable artists to showcase their talent … and there’s also not enough positive representation of African culture outside of Africa itself, so I wanted to bring that to the world,” Meleu said during her presentation.
The top three winners in each grade category won checks ranging from $125 to $750. All students received exceptional student awards and Little Blue Menu gift cards.
WETATi Academy was founded in 2012 by Margaret Dureke, a motivational speaker and bestselling author. She established the school with the goal of giving students the skills to be financially independent through entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
“What separates us from most others is that we don’t just tell them what they can do,” Dureke said. “We show them how to do it, and we’re there with them in the trenches and doing the work.”
