Montoursville Area High School student Mason Morrow won first place – and the grand prize of a $10,000 scholarship to Pennsylvania College of Technology – in the 2023-24 Dream-Learn-Pitch competition.
Dream-Learn-Pitch, administered by nonprofit Brighter Financial Futures/Pennsylvania Council on Financial Literacy, provides high school and middle school students with an opportunity to innovate and gain exposure to the world of entrepreneurship and small business. Participants research, write and present their business ideas through a video “pitch.”
Morrow, pitching his line of smoked pistachios, faced off against other finalists on April 23 at Penn State’s Happy Valley LaunchBox. The final event was preceded by a series of conferences that began in the fall with a “Dream” conference at Susquehanna University, helping students develop a business idea; a “Learn” conference, held at Penn College in October to help the participants develop business plans (with instruction from Mark A. Ciavarella, associate professor of business administration/management at Penn College, and Tim Keohane, director of the Small Business Development Center at Penn State); and two “Pitch” conferences, hosted virtually by the Penn State Small Business Development Center.
The Dream-Learn-Pitch curriculum jump-starts minds and develops critical thinking, financial literacy and risk management skills. Business plans are uploaded to Brighter Financial Futures and rigorously reviewed.
The mission of Brighter Financial Futures is to provide K-12 students with economic, personal finance and entrepreneurship skills that elevate their standard of living, quality of life and professional success.
Sponsors for Dream-Learn-Pitch include Woodlands Bank and The Hawk Family Foundation.
To learn about Penn College’s associate and bachelor’s degrees in accounting and business administration, call 570-327-4505.
For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.