Harlan County High School’s Caleb Schwenke recently participated in the 2025 East Kentucky Leadership Network conference.
Eastern Kentucky high school students delivered business pitches to a panel of judges in a competition hosted by BoomKY and Awesome, Inc.
These young entrepreneurs presented information on how they launched their startups in the areas of mobile technology, chicken and egg production, and charcuterie board creation.
Moderated by Kyle Wilson, CEO of BoomKY, and Garrett Fahrbach, Startup Accelerator Director for Awesome, Inc., this contest featured students from:
Schwenke, then a senior at Harlan County High School, presented his business, Gear Hub, which he created to provide the best cellular technology products at affordable prices to customers in rural places.
The panel of judges featured Gary Schoeniger, author, The Entrepreneurial Mindset Advantage, Sandi Curd, engagement director, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation and Rodney Kuhl, director, Kentucky Small Business Development Center.
Schwenke said he earned about $2,700 through his business.
He said it was a great experience that taught him how to handle certain situations that he had not had the opportunity to work through by himself.
Schwenke said he is thankful for that opportunity and highly encourages other students to take part in the future if they are interested in entrepreneurship.
Organizers said all of the students did a wonderful job in presenting their business pitches. Congratulations to these young entrepreneurs!