April 19, 2018

From left, Julia Bodner, Jennifer Thorsheim and Hannah Gruber participated in e-Fest and the Schultz Entrepreneurship Challenge.A three-person team of Susquehanna University business students was named among the top 25 finalists to participate in the largest undergraduate business pitch competition in the U.S.

Julia Bodner, of Kingston, Pa.; Hannah Gruber, of Chalfont, Pa.; and Jennifer Thorsheim, of Englishtown, N.J., all senior business administration majors, won an all-expenses-paid trip to the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn., to participate in e-Fest and the Schultz Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Bodner, Gruber and Thorsheim were selected to compete for their business idea Fairy Godmother, a car service to ensure safe and comfortable transportation for women, by women.

“e-Fest gives some of the country’s most innovative business students an opportunity to compete against each other, and through that experience, learn from each other,” said Emma Fleck, associate professor of management in Susquehanna’s Sigmund Weis School of Business. “I am extremely proud that our students have earned a place at this prestigious event.”

E-Fest is a three-day celebration of undergraduate entrepreneurship, which includes a pitch competition, development workshops and an innovation challenge. Sponsored by the University of St. Thomas and EIX.org, a nonprofit online platform for entrepreneurship education, the event culminates with the Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge, where students compete for more than $250,000 in cash prizes.