On May 14, Chedral Prep’s very own entrepreneurs pitched their “million dollar” ideas to the sharks. Smoothie Companies, Bitcoin currency, an app to see where your local pickup basketball games were, and many more pitches, were all presented at Cathedral Prep’s annual Shark Tank. Shark Tank is a pretty exciting opportunity to make your own app, new business, or product. Students first come up with an idea a couple of months before, and from there they have to figure out a way to present their product the best way possible. They can 3D print objects for their product or figure out how their app would work. Then, students make a PowerPoint presentation explaining their product. From there they present it to the sharks. 

I was kind of involved with Shark Tank last year. Before COVID, my partner and I were coming up with a new piece of equipment for all sports, but then it got shut down because of COVID. It was very disappointing because we were supposed to go to Penn State Behrend and create a prototype for our product, and we couldn’t. That just shows how much time and effort the students put in to their products because there were kids doing even more than my partner and I. 

With that being said, I want to highlight two of the pitches I think were among the top this year. 

Sean Post is a freshman here at Prep, and he pitched a new cryptocurrency app called Crypto Finance. Post explained that cryptocurrency is the best new thing, and you don’t want to be too late. If you are too late you could miss out on huge money-making assets. He explained how Elon Musk is a very wealthy man, as we all know, and what helps with his finances is that he is in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is the future, so you don’t want to be late. 

Smoothie Sensation was the main story of Shark Tank. Senior Matthew Loza is really into healthy foods and drinks. His favorite kind of drinks are smoothies. The problem, was that smoothies here in Erie were a lot of money that were low quality. Loza then started to make his own smoothies with real fruit. He brought them to hockey practice to get some opinions, and we all liked them. From there he got the idea to have a mobile smoothie truck and drive around Erie and sell them. “I just want to give people real smoothies,” said Loza, “you know how they should be made. The right way.” Loza pitched his idea to the sharks and he ended up receiving an investment then and there.