Business competition provides opportunity for Morrisville State College students to advance their business ideas

MORRISVILLE, NY— A business that raises animals and grows produce to help war veterans, a dairy farm with a creamery, and a virtual reality video game took top honors in the 2017 Cotton Business Idea Competition held at Morrisville State College. 



Similar to the television reality show Shark Tank, which features business pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs to a panel of potential investors, teams had four minutes to pitch their ideas, followed by a Q&A with a panel of judges.



Twenty-three ideas were submitted overall, with eight teams chosen to present their ideas to a panel of judges who are entrepreneurs from the local Morrisville area. Winners earned cash prizes to help take their ideas to the next level.



Winners are:

First place, $500—David Gevry of Little Falls, agricultural business bachelor degree program

Second place, $300—Carrie Shuman of Bloomsburg, Pa., dairy management bachelor degree program

Third place, $100—Johann DeWolf of Syracuse, an information technology-end-user support student, and Jackson Koch of Brooklyn, an information technology-application software major. 



Gevry is executive director of Vets2Farm, a business which offers classes in raising animals and grows produce as therapy for disabled veterans to help them transition back to civilian life. The business donates nearly half of its products to veterans or veteran organizations. 



Shuman’s plan is Jessa Farms Dairy and Creamery, a small dairy farm with a creamery to process the milk into ice cream, cheese and soap, and allow a location for other local businesses to sell their products. The creamery also will provide tours to educate about the dairy industry and processing. 



DeWolf and Koch’s business idea is a class-based, first-person shooter video game in which a special player on each team uses virtual reality to coordinate and power-up their team to victory. Eventually they plan to publish the game to an online storefront called Steam and possibly for consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation 4. 



Sponsored through the college’s Department of Business and Entrepreneurship, the competition is supported by Douglas and Susan Cotton, entrepreneurs and college donors, to further MSC students’ entrepreneurial endeavors. 



Morrisville State College’s curricula are enriched with applied learning and pave the way for opportunity at both the Morrisville and Norwich campuses. An action-oriented, interactive learning lab, the college is a national leader in technology and has been lauded for its exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs.



The college was ranked among the Best Regional Colleges in the North by U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges 2017 issue and was also recognized in the Top Public Schools, Regional Colleges North in the 2017 Best Colleges rankings.