{"id":72376,"date":"2023-04-04T15:57:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T20:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=72376"},"modified":"2023-04-04T15:57:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T20:57:16","slug":"fhsu-senior-wins-faulkner-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=72376","title":{"rendered":"FHSU senior wins Faulkner Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTransFortified,\u201d an entrepreneurial business plan created by PJ Stauffer, won first place at the 2023 Faulkner Challenge for a Better Future at Fort Hays State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stauffer, a senior drawing major and graduate of Beloit High School, received a $6,000 first-place cash award for his presentation. Stauffer\u2019s business is a non-profit website with resources for transgender Americans looking for information in multiple facets, including name changes, navigating medical transition, peer support, historical and scientific accuracy, self-advocacy, and connecting to local resources.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want others to go through the turmoil that I went through,\u201d Stauffer, who was born female but now identifies as male, said in his presentation to the judges at Saturday\u2019s event. \u201cNowadays, it is more difficult to get access to resources because the laws are changing all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stauffer said that winning the competition was unexpected. He often struggles with discussing the status of his gender identity with others and found that the encouragement of his professors and peers played a key role in his moving forward with the project.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI plan to help people who are going through the same thing as me see that it is actually worth it,\u201d he said. \u201cGood things happen. Keep trying. You literally never know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Faulkner Challenge is a business plan competition designed to develop entrepreneurial imagination and innovation in university students, regardless of major or interests. It is open to any new venture in the conceptual, seed, or startup stages and to students from any community college or university in Kansas. Teams are evaluated on their ability to clearly identify a market opportunity, value proposition, and sustainable competitive advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While all entries are welcome, of special interest are proposals for innovations in or design of products, processes, systems, services, or businesses that are economically sustainable, with promise for social and or environmental benefit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FHSU alum Kevin Faulkner established an endowed fund for the W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship business plan challenge that now bears his name. He supports the challenge in many ways, including serving as a judge for the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faulkner, who joined Saturday\u2019s finals competition online, offered his help and guidance to all three teams competing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are three outstanding ideas, and I think you presented them very well,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope you continue to move forward with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second-place $3,000 prize went to Salma Beauty, a sustainable makeup startup that draws inspiration from the beauty of Morocco. Team members: Fiorella Mendez, Paraguay; Diana Angarita, San Felipe, Venezuela; Bass Fall, Dakar, Senegal; and Mohamed Didi, Dakar, Senegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Winning the $1,000 third-place award was Innovia Construction, LLC 3D printed homes \u2013 building sustainable, high-quality homes for an affordable price. Team members: Max Weimer, McCook, Neb.; Caitlin Leiker, Hays; Tanner Miller, Spearville; and Alicia Feyerherm, Hays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Competition for the 2023 award was \u201crazor thin,\u201d said Dr. Rick Edgeman, director of FHSU\u2019s Center for Entrepreneurship and organizer of the challenge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was an incredibly challenging discussion and decision. Whether you walk away with 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, 2<sup>nd<\/sup>, or 1<sup>st<\/sup>, you are all winners. You all did amazing jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Edgeman said all the competitors have a legitimate chance to move forward with their business plans to make a significant impact on the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what this competition was about,\u201d he said. \u201cDoing things that matter. We feel that every one of your ideas is something that makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS \u201cTransFortified,\u201d an entrepreneurial business plan created by PJ Stauffer, won first place at the 2023 Faulkner Challenge for a Better Future at&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72377,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72376\/revisions\/72377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}