Youth Stories
Daytime TV exposure weaves new challenge for once-bullied teen wig designer: a startup reality check
Fifteen-year-old Trenton Lee found his purpose on the brink of suicide, he recalled, glossing through the pages of a portfolio chronicling the first months of his newly launched Kansas City wig business — a path that ultimately led him to a couch alongside TV and radio personality Steve Harvey. “I was just at the lowest…
VIDEO: Local Legends makes brick-and-mortar play with new Westport gaming center
A popular E-Sports startup plans to level up sooner than its founder ever envisioned — putting Local Legends Gaming on Main Street. But this time, it’s wheels up, said AbdulRasheed Yahaya. “We really want to introduce Kansas City to the big, E-Sports brand and how social [gaming] really is,” Yahaya said of his new brick-and-mortar…
VIDEO: Education startups earn $60K in LEANLAB grants at revamped Launch[ED] Day
The work doesn’t end with LEANLAB Education’s Launch[ED] Day celebration, said Katie Boody. Four of the accelerator’s fellows will continue their startups’ research thanks to $60,000 in grant investments. The entrepreneur-led education ventures took the stage Thursday to pitch their companies to the Launch[ED] crowd at Plexpod Westport Commons, as well as to describe the…
Don’t just play the game: MECA Challenge urges students to innovate ‘school of the future’
Challenging Kansas City students to envision “the school of the future” will usher in a paradigm shift wherein teens can see themselves as customers of school, said Katie Kimbrell optimistically. “[Students] don’t even think, ‘Oh, I could rethink this whole thing that I’m experiencing,’ and choose — or even demand — something different,” said Kimbrell,…
CommunityAmerica innovation lab launches AI chatbot to help students complete FAFSA
A new artificial intelligence-fueled chatbot and FAFSA help site aim to digitally remove barriers faced by first-generation American students, children of divorce and others hoping to obtain financial aid to attend college. It’s about delivering peace of mind to members of CommunityAmerica Credit Union, which developed the technology, said Anita Newton, chief innovation officer for…