Lakeside High School students swept the top prizes in the 2025 Arkansas Tech University High School Business Challenge, which concluded with final presentations before a panel of judges on Thursday, April 10.
Participants were asked to develop a business start-up or expansion idea.
Maddex Ritter earned first place and $500 with his idea for “Ritter Home Services.”
Madelyn Disney and Rachel Hugentobler finished second and won $250 with their concept entitled “Glam Van.”
Eighteen Arkansas high school students competed in the finals, which took place at Doc Bryan Student Services Center Lecture Hall on the ATU campus in Russellville.
Additional finalists were Jenna Arthur, Tobi Biaiotta, Adison Gibson, Alexis Gonzalez, Andrea Carmona-Vasquez, Sandra Carmona-Vasquez and Camille Kuhn from Lakeside High School, Weiran Chen from Russellville High School, Chris Huang from Haas Hall Academy, Michelle Dominguez-Hoyos, Eduardo Pineda, Aisha Ramirez and Kayla Standridge from Dardanelle High School and Aneeka Srivastava and Yukta Pandiri from Bentonville High School.
Pope County Farm Bureau and Textbook Brokers were the sponsors of the 2025 ATU High School Business Challenge.
ATU faculty members Dr. Stephen Jones and Thomas Pennington as well as Matt Lundy from the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center regional office at ATU served as judges for the finals.
Visit www.atu.edu/business to learn more about the ATU College of Business and Economic Development.
