Bardstown High School student selected for Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Friday, April 23, 2021 — The Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs (GSE), a highly competitive summer program focusing on product innovation and business model design, has announced the selection of 120 students from nearly 50 Kentucky counties for the 2021 program.

One of these students selected is Bardstown High School junior, Eli Flanagan. Based on his application and video submission, Eli is the first student in Bardstown history to be accepted into the prestigious GSE program. Hundreds of applicants are selected through a competitive process and the program is free for all participants.

“While social and economic empowerment has always been at the core of the GSE experience, our talented class of 2021 truly embodies the fact that without diversity in all forms, innovation does not exist,” said Tasha Sams, executive director of GSE. “In fact, what we look for in our participants can’t be tabulated. We seek the innovative thinkers, the collaborators, the risk-takers, the change-makers, the teens with a drive that is unstoppable. They are Kentucky’s future business creators and based on GSE’s class of 2021, the future of the commonwealth is brighter than ever!”

The three-week residential program brings high school students from across the state together and equips them with the tools needed to unleash their innate entrepreneurial spirits for the betterment of Kentucky. Teams of students develop a business model, design a prototype and pitch their startups to a panel of judges. GSE teaches the opportunities, benefits, and pitfalls of taking a business concept from the idea phase to pitching it to potential investors.

GSE is free for selected entrepreneurs. Alumni gain access to a host of scholarship opportunities, high school class credit, and a statewide network of lifelong entrepreneurial support.

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