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High School Entrepreneurs Encouraged to Submit Innovative Ideas

January 20, 2022

BLOOMINGTON, ILL. – Young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas are encouraged to apply to the 7th annual Celebrating High School Innovators (CHSI) competition, which is co-sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan University.

IWU students giving presentation
Wesleyan students speak during a presentation about entrepreneurship and The Petrick Idea Center to a visiting high school class. 

The CHSI competition identifies, fosters and celebrates high school students whose contributions are exceptional and inspirational. Current 9th-12th grade students are eligible to apply in five areas – arts, media and literature; business entrepreneurship; health and nutrition; social entrepreneurship; and science, technology, engineering and math.  

Examples of winners from previous years include a device that detects and analyzes lactose in food and a service that teaches senior citizens how to use technology.

Each team must include up to six members in high school and an advisor age 21 or older. To apply, teams must submit a 90-second video and 1,000-word essay to showcase their concept. The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. on February 14, and the schedule of events runs from mid-February to March, with the finals taking place on April 9 at Illinois State University. 

CHSI will award five $1,000 prizes. Illinois Wesleyan will provide four-year scholarships of $2,000 per year to each member of the top five teams who apply to IWU and are admitted.

Illinois Wesleyan’s academic sponsorship of the program serves as an example of the University’s commitment to empowering the student innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow – also demonstrated through the upcoming creation of The Petrick Idea Center, a state-of-the-art living, learning and creating center to be built in the heart of IWU’s campus. 

“CHSI aligns exceptionally well with our goal to create a pipeline of innovative and entrepreneurially-minded high school students to apply to Illinois Wesleyan University. We look forward to hosting high school students from future competitions at summer camps to build their entrepreneurial leadership skills and expose them to IWU’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem,” said John Quarton, inaugural director of The Petrick Idea Center.

For more information about the competition or to submit an application, visit chsinnovators.org .

By Julia Perez