Farmington Student Selected For National Forum

FAYETTEVILLE – Savannah Slinkard, a rising senior at Farmington High School, joined outstanding high school students from across the nation for one week in July to take part in a unique academic development experience, the National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF): Business Innovation, taking place on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

The business forum allowed Slinkard and other high school students to kick start their careers as entrepreneurs and innovators at one of the country’s premier startup programs.

Slinkard, the daughter of Cliff and Niki Slinkard, competed against other business-minded high school students in Envision’s Entrepreneurial Challenge, a “shark tank” experience. The startup-style entrepreneurial challenge takes participants along the journey from product idea to launch, tackling challenges and critical decisions.

“I am honored and excited to take part in the Envision program, spending six days on the Yale University campus learning from business leaders and members of Yale’s business faculty,” said Slinkard prior to participating in the program. “Not only will I work on developing my business skills and knowledge, but I’ll be surrounded by students like me who have a passion for entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Slinkard, 16, recently helped launch PigPin, a monthly subscription service for lapel pins. She has played tennis at Farmington High School and is involved in DECA, an organization focused on preparing future business leaders. She competed in her first Arkansas State DECA Conference earlier this year in Little Rock, placing second in the “independent business plan” category, which qualified her to compete at the International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Fla., in April.

NYLF Business Innovation is one of the Envision family of programs (www.envision experience.com) that enables students to explore their interests and experience learning beyond the classroom.

Since 1985, Envision programs have served more than 800,000 students in 145 countries, with programs designed to help students develop the leadership, scholarship and career skills needed to succeed in today’s competitive college and career landscape.

Slinkard