Hoover Business Program

🎉🏆 NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED! 🏆🎉

What an absolutely unforgettable week in Boston for our Heavy Hugs team at the JA FutureBound competition!

From exploring the history of the city to competing on the national stage, these students have poured their hearts into every single moment and every single ice cream cone 😂

Part 1: Exploring & Learning 🚶
We kicked off our week immersing ourselves in everything Boston has to offer:
⚾ Touring the historic Fenway Park
📜 Walking the iconic Freedom Trail
🎓 Exploring innovation at the MIT campus
💼 A massive thank you to Santander Bank’s marketing team for an incredible, hands-on corporate site visit!

Part 2: Networking & Pitching 🤝
Throughout the week, our students were the ultimate professionals! They enthusiastically networked with fellow students from across the country, JA executives, and corporate sponsors. They poured months of hard work into the expo showcase, delivered an incredible presentation, and answered rigorous questions from the judges.

Part 3: THE BIG NEWS! 🎉
The hard work paid off in a massive way. We are thrilled, proud, and completely overjoyed to announce that Heavy Hugs is bringing home TWO national awards:
1️⃣ The 2026 Delta Social Impact Award✈️🌍
2️⃣ The 2026 Student Choice Award🗳️✨

To our Alumni that served as this week’s student ambassadors, Grady and Peyton: what am inspiration you both are! Proud is an understatement. 🫶

It has been an absolute privilege to be all of these amazing individuals teacher and help guide them on their journey. I can’t wait to see how these talented humans will change the world! 🫶💗🥹🥰

Thank you Junior Achievement of North Central Ohio and Future Bound by Junior Achievement for providing these opportunities to our students!! 🙏🏻

Give it up for Heavy Hugs!!! 🙌🩷

They have OFFICIALLY qualified for the National JA Future Bound: Company of the Year Competition in Boston, MA this June!!! 🏆✈️🇺🇸

This is no small feat. It’s the result of countless hours of hard work, bold pitches, savvy sales strategies, and sharp ex*****on. This team has truly gone above and beyond, and now they’re taking their talents to the NATIONAL stage!! 🌟

We are SO proud to showcase this incredible group and all they’ve accomplished! 👏👏

What an incredible day for students at the Junior Achievement Entrepreneurship Expo! 🚀

We are bursting with pride for every single student (19 teams of 5+ students) who stepped up, pitched their hearts out, and showed us the future of business. A huge round of applause to all the teams who competed! 👏✨

We have to give an extra special shoutout to our three Viking teams who truly brought their A game:

🧸 Heavy Hugs
This team is making a real difference with their weighted stuffed bears designed to provide comfort during times of anxiety. Their hard work and heart led mission paid off big time, taking home:
• 🥉 3rd Place Overall
• 📊 Best Annual Report
• 🌍 Social Impact Award
We are so proud of the comfort you're bringing to the world! 🩷

🧼 Hygeia
Pure, simple, and sustainable. Hygeia impressed everyone with their all natural ingredient soap bars. Your commitment to quality and eco-friendly wellness was evident in every part of your presentation. We are so impressed by your vision! 🌿

🖊️ WiFill
Sustainability meets utility! WiFill is changing the game with their refillable markers, tackling waste one stroke at a time. Your energy at the booth and your innovative solution to a common problem were top tier. The future looks bright (and refillable)! 💡

Ethan Kling also earned the Young Entrepreneur Award.

Congratulations again to all!👏

🎉🚀 Huge congrats to Heavy Hugs and Hygeia for crushing Round 1 of the Mott Million Dollar Challenge! 🏆🔥

These amazing innovators beat out over 5,300 students nationwide to secure their spot! 🌟 Not only did they win a $250 award, but they’re helping OHIO lead the pack with 441 winners—the most in the entire country! ⭕️💪✨

The Highlights:

🧠 Bold Ideas: Solving real-world problems in health & tech!

🥇 State Pride: Ohio has the MOST winners in the nation!

🔜 What's Next: 60 semi-finalists head to Flint, MI this June to pitch LIVE! 🎤📈

Drop some ❤️ and 👏👏 below to celebrate these brilliant students as they move toward the finals! ⬇️✨

Congratulations to Lucas of WiFill on earning an Honorable Mention in the Veale ThinkBig Competition 👏 This is a great accomplishment and reflects the hard work put into the project.

Thank you for the support and opportunity Veale Youth Entrepreneurship Forum!

📣 WiFill is now available for purchase ‼️

If you’d like to support Lucas and the team, you can check out there website ⬇️

🔗 WiFill.shop

Today ALL THREE of our teams showed up and showed OUT at FinMango’s Barrier Breaker competition!! 🙌🔥

Our students had an amazing opportunity to network 🤝, compete 💼, and put their financial skills to the test 📊💡 — and they absolutely crushed it!!

🥉👏 BIG CONGRATS to Hevay Hugs for taking home 3rd place!!! We are so proud of your hard work and dedication! 💪💙

⚡🏆 Shoutout to Brett, Ethan, and David for having the FASTEST financial literacy test times AND top accuracy — that’s seriously impressive!! 🧠💨

What an incredible day of growth, learning, and success. The future is BRIGHT! 🌟📈

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WiFill Pre-Launch Interest Survey Help us shape the future of classroom sustainability. WiFill is a refillable dry-erase marker designed to reduce plastic waste while giving users a durable, reusable option. This short survey will help us better understand marker use, common problems with traditional markers, pricing preferences, an...