SHS student to present business idea in Washington D.C.
A Starkville High School student will have the opportunity to present his business idea for a go-kart track in Washington D.C. from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, after winning the entrepreneurship category at the state-level Career Development Conference in Jackson in April.
In Washington D.C., Tommie Rice will attend the National Student Leadership Academy through Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG), a state-based national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing dropouts among students who are most at-risk. He will present his business plan, competing against JAG students from across the country. SHS seniors Reginald West, Montana Brasher and Jeremy Gandy will accompany Rice to the conference.
“I realized that in Starkville there’s not much to do, so I came up with the business plan to make an amusement park,” Rice said. “At first it was considered an amusement park, but then I scaled it down and made it a go-kart track. It took that down to (the competition in) Jackson. I made a Power Point, went to talk to a couple businessmen, made a really good business plan, and a made a really good, catchy jingle and performed that.”
In Jackson, Rice was competing against students from 62 locations of the Jobs for Mississippi Graduates Program, the state arm of JAG.
In preparation, Rice surveyed the SHS student body on types of entertainment businesses they would like to see, and met with several prominent Starkville businessmen including Charles Templeton and Spencer Bailey.
“They really helped me become as successful as I am now, winning first place in Jackson,” Rice said.
After attending college, possibly at Delta State University, Rice hopes to turn the go-kart track into a reality.
He said he was considering putting it along Highway 25 near the Pine Lake Church.
“It’s like a good 22 acres over there I’d like to get, because it’s really close to the city and traffic won’t get jammed, ” Rice said.
All four students also wrote an essay, which will be judged while they are in Washington D.C. The writers of the top 11 essays will receive $1,000.
“This is our first trip,” said JMG instructor Debbie Thomas. “We are not familiar with how it works, or what the outcome will be. We just know that they’re asking students like Tommie to share what they’ve done.”
Brasher, past president of the SHS JMG program said the essay prompt was how JMG had helped them, as well as future plans.
“Before taking JMG, I really had no clue on what I wanted to do after high school,“Brasher said. “With JMG, we all looked into degrees we could get into after high school, and after all the research, I kind of decided I wanted to pursue something in the medical field like physical therapy or pharmaceuticals.”
Gandy said he was considering joining the U.S. Armed Forces to pursue a career in aviation. He has also considered becoming a truck driver with hopes of someday operating a trucking company.
“What I learned in JMG is you may have a difference from person to person,” Gandy said. “You may have some people that are natural-born leaders, and some people that have to learn how to become leaders in order to take over a successful business.”
West, who works with his uncle at Bishop’s Auto Body, is considering a career as a
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