Youth Stories

Goodwill

MECA students to Goodwill: Everyone has a mission now — what else are you selling?

Editor’s note: MECA Challenge and Startland News are both programs of the Kansas City Startup Foundation, though the content below was produced independently by Startland. For more information on the relationship, click here. Goodwill must innovate and change with the times if it’s going to survive after 125 years in business, said Ed Lada. “The…

Brandon Priest, Social Apex

‘Millennial’ isn’t a curse word — it’s a critical marketing tool, says Social Apex Media

Social Apex Media is designed to feed the creativity of hungry millennial entrepreneurs who don’t fit into the corporate culture of many other marketing agencies, said Brandon Priest. “We’re building Social Apex on the backs of entrepreneurs. That means instead of employees who feel like, ‘OK, I just got to work 9 to 5 every…

Sheyvette Dinkens, Suite 1886, Wyandotte High School, classroom coworking

KCK business teacher re-imagines school space as student-led classroom coworking

Nobody’s going to tell you what to do here, Sheyvette Dinkens said passionately. The Wyandotte High School business teacher recently began transforming her space at school into classroom coworking. “I want students to be able to guide their own education,” she said. “I want to be able to facilitate their learning, and I want them…

Erin Smith, FacePrint

Lenexa teen IDs winning medical solution with Parkinson’s detection tech FacePrint

Stanford University will have to wait. Eighteen-year-old Erin Smith is taking her medical technology venture, FacePrint, on the road. The Johnson County teen has been selected to join two prestigious fellowships to further develop FacePrint, which is a diagnostic and monitoring Tool for Parkinson’s Disease. She’s been tapped for $25,000 from the Davidson Institute for…

Athlete Network co-founders Dirk Ochs, Chris Smith and Eli Fisher

Lenexa-based Athlete Network teams with K-State, Arkansas, Lindenwood on student engagement

A Kansas City-area tech startup is expanding the scope of its social network for athletes, the company announced this week, revealing new partnerships between Athlete Network and three universities with Division 1 sports. The company is collaborating with athletic departments at Kansas State University, Arkansas State University, and Lindenwood University to develop game-changing technology with…