Young entrepreneurs strut their stuff at PSU Panther Pitch business competition

PLYMOUTH — The ideas ranged from an AI-based talk therapy app to a candy bar, from online health advocacy training to a community care drive.

Two overall winners were recently named in the annual Panther Pitch competition at Plymouth State University, a campus-wide competition that challenges students to create, refine, and deliver innovative and entrepreneurial ideas that address societal challenges.

In the New Product category, senior Joe Zuber of Middlebury, Connecticut, received the Howard Frederick Entrepreneurship Award for his SweetPea candy bar, a “chickpea-powered gluten-free chocolate reimagined.”

In the Social category, senior Cara LaPlante of North Woodstock, won the Peter and Vicky Bauer Entrepreneurship Award for her Collegiate Recovery Program, which “empowers students on their path to substance abuse recovery and support.”

Zuber and LaPlant each received $2,000 for their winning projects; $12,000 was awarded to first- through third-place winners in both categories. In addition to winning the New Product category, Zuber’s SweetPea candy bar was named People’s Choice and Most Innovative and Creative Pitch. LaPlante’s Collegiate Recovery Program was also named People’s Choice and Best Pitch in the Social category

In the Panther Pitch program, PSU students work in and out of the classroom with faculty and volunteer mentors to develop and strengthen the quality of their concepts before submitting proposals for review and screening. Finalists are invited to pitch their ideas before panels of expert judges and a live audience.

Thirteen projects, created by 20 undergraduates working individually or in teams, were selected as Panther Pitch finalists this year. These projects included seven new products and six social projects.

“This year, we created two separate categories for the competition: the business category for new product ideas and the social category for ideas to help the community and campus,” said PSU Professor of Business Bonnie Bechard. “All of our students put immense creativity and passion into these Panther Pitch proposals, and we couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Two other awards were presented at the Panther Pitch event. Alex Ray, founder and owner of the Common Man Family of Restaurants, was awarded the Business Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Award for his “tireless philanthropic work,” business acumen and the success of the Common Man, which now includes 15 restaurants, two inns, and several other hospitality organizations that employ more than 650 people.

And 1999 PSU graduate Todd Angilly was named the winner of the Social Entrepreneurship Award for his years of service as director of workforce development at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Angilly is best known, though, as the official singer of the National Anthem for Boston Bruins games at TD Garden. After starting as a regular anthem singer for the Red Sox at Fenway Park, he has sung the anthem for all five New England professional sports teams, and has returned often to PSU to perform the anthem at Panther football games and other events.

For more information, visit plymouth.edu.