(From left, Mike Palmer and Paul Strommen speaks with Sarah Sinnett during the 2023 Youth Entrepreneurship Competition at Sidney High School. -- News Channel Nebraska file photo)

SIDNEY -- On December 6, the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge will have it's second showcase of high school seniors with plans for success. The Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. December 6 in the Sidney High School Commons area.

The program is education in business, and an opportunity for students to pitch their vision of working in Cheyenne County. Sidney High School Business Education Teacher Ashley Fehringer explains what the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (YEC) is and how students benefit.

"It's just a way for kids to get familiar with what is entrepreneurship. I think a lot of people just have this really skewed idea of what entrepreneurship is. I think it's innovation, and invention, and having to come up with brand new ideas," Fehringer said.

In 2023, the Sidney and Cheyenne County E3 group partnered with the business program at Sidney High School. E3 met with Fehringer and Lacey Russell with something of a "what-if" question: what if there is a way to encourage graduates to develop their future in their home communities.

"It started with our E3 group who had done a survey or found data in Sidney that people are graduating ... kids want to come back to Sidney. They're just afraid they'll never be able to find a job," she said.

The concept developed into a pathway for students to learn how to start their own business. The program includes classwork on developing a product or service and writing an effective business plan. The semester highlight was a something of a business fair where students could pitch their product or service before the public.

"Opening up this new idea of entrepreneurship to them to give them an idea that 'hey, you can move back to Sidney or to another small community and you can start your own business. You don't have to go to work for someone else,' so again it just teaches them about what entrepreneurship is, but actually allows them to get their feet wet, and figure out what is entrepreneurship and how do you actually do this," she said.

Fehringer said she relates to the sense of a vacuum, of what would she do in Sidney, having graduated high school in Sidney. 

"Just having that idea that figure out what you're good at, figure out what your strengths are, figure out what's needed in your community and just come back and do it yourself," she said.

The semester class also include a "Shark Tank" type element where students present their plan before judges. Classes have included guest speakers including E3 Navigator Alisha Juelfs and Technical and Grant Writer Melissa Norgard.

"I think the guest speakers has probably been the most beneficial. The kids really enjoy it. I think it's always fun hearing from someone else instead of just reading out of a textbook or listening to a teacher like actually seeing real people do it," Fehringer said.

In the 2023 YEC, prizes were donated for the top contestants in the competition. Prizes included college scholarships and computer accessories. This year, there will be four components: the Business Plan graded by Fehringer, doing a pitch before a panel of judges, the Trade Show and new this year for dual credit through Doane College which requires a test.