What do hacking, competitions and over $200 in Chick-fil-A gift cards have in common? The White Station High School (WSHS) Entrepreneurship Club, of course. The Entrepreneurship Club hosts hackathons, or hacking competitions, with various prizes, including Chick-fil-A gift cards.
Aditi Arunprakash (11) founded the Entrepreneurship Club as a space for students interested in technology and competitions. The club plans various events throughout the year and practices entrepreneurship skills such as public speaking and web design.
“I decided to start the Entrepreneurship club because … I have a passion for entrepreneurship, specifically tech entrepreneurship,” Arunprakash said. “I [had] been trying to get into doing entrepreneurship competitions, so I decided that ‘Ok, it’s being offered to me in high school to start my own club; might as well start something that I’m interested in [and] … find other people that are interested in the same thing so I can collaborate with them, work with them, compete with them and all of that so I can expand my own knowledge, and I can do something that I like.”
Founded during the 2023-2024 school year, the Entrepreneurship Club has grown from just a club at WSHS to an organization that hosts events for schools across the city. The recent 901 Hacks Championship hosted four schools from across Memphis, with WSHS taking home the trophy.
“Last year, we hosted a hackathon just for the school; it was the first hackathon at our school,” Arunprakash said. “We gave away $200 in prizes; it was sponsored by the local Chick-fil-A so we gave out Chick-fil-A gift cards. We had about 15, 20 students show up from our school … It was a lot of fun, and … everybody seemed to really enjoy it. That’s why … we decided to plan the event this year. We decided to expand it. [The hackathon] became a city-wide hackathon for all students in the greater Memphis area. We had four different schools show up: Houston [High School], Collierville [High School], White Station [High School] and then one student from [Cordova High School].”
Organizing a hackathon isn’t easy. The Entrepreneurship club has to advertise the event, fundraise for prizes and design the challenges for the hackathon. The process can take several months, especially the fundraising process, which relies on sponsorships from local businesses.
“The planning for the event breaks into [three] basic parts: … the fundraising, the advertising and just like all the logistics of the event,” Arunprakash said. “The fundraising process … is usually what comes first … we do that over the span of maybe a few months. The [fundraising] process is really hard. I think for every 10 businesses you reach out to maybe one will respond. So you gotta reach out to a ton. Then, the actual planning. This year especially, was a lot easier because … we all had the experience from last year … We kinda knew what to expect. [For advertising], we have the Instagram account, and then we also have a club website. Other than that, it’s word-of-mouth [advertisement] — just telling friends. We put up posters around the school … like me personally, I posted on my personal Instagram, I sent it out to friends, group chats, I put it on my Snapchat, Discord — really just any way that you can think to send it out is one of the main forms of advertising.”
Despite the difficulties, the entrepreneurship club plans to continue hosting events, aiming to reach more schools and more students in the coming years. And not just high schools. The club also introduces middle school students to entrepreneurship and hackathons.
“I’m really passionate about … is planning these events and kind of like having a school tradition like our club plans a hackathon every single year, just like a legacy we can kind of leave behind,” Arunprakash said. “Since we raised $2,500 just for the hackathon, we were also able to use some of that to benefit three different middle schools in this area. [The middle schools were] Kingsbury [Middle School], [Maxine Smith] STEAM Academy and [Cordova Middle School]. We were able to reach out to those schools because starting an interest in [entrepreneurship is] really fun when you’re younger … I wanted to share that with other middle school kids in Memphis. So, we were able to create challenges for them and they were also able to win some prizes, and they really enjoyed it too. Hopefully … this year we may be planning one other event, and then for next year, definitely, we’ll be planning some events as well.”
Though the entrepreneurship club is hard work, Arunprakash still manages to find time for other activities, including debate, tennis, Model UN and Key Club. Ultimately, the Entrepreneurship Club is a place for students to connect, learn about technology and compete with others. From the club, Arunprakash has been able to build community and exchange knowledge with others.
“It’s been a lot of fun [running the club], I’ve really enjoyed it,” Arunprakash said. “I like all the people that I have in my club. My officers are really great. It’s been a lot of fun, like planning all the events, like the Hackathon last year, the Hackathon this year and then being able to teach things that I know to all my club members and then learning from them as well, it’s been a lot of fun for me.”
