For High Schools
We offer valuable content and easy integration into your classroom and a simple way for students to register and participate in the competition.
It’s For Everyone
The Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition is the most prestigious pitch competition for high school students in the world. This is a virtual, global competition. Every year, teams pitch their innovative business concepts to experienced entrepreneurs and businesspeople, receive feedback on their ideas, join a community of like-minded students, and compete for thousands in cash prizes!
It doesn’t matter if you are interested in sports, STEM, the arts, or something entirely different because the Blue Ocean Competition allows everyone to pitch their revolutionary idea. In past years, we’ve seen pitches for both for-profit and non-profit concepts in industries including consumer products, healthcare, education, agriculture, technology, and many others.
Whatever the big idea is that your students have, the Blue Ocean Competition is the perfect platform to share it and receive feedback and mentorship from successful entrepreneurs around the world.
Ilene Littman is a teacher at Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York. In addition, she is also a DECA Advisor.
Ilene has embedded the Blue Ocean Competition into her high school entrepreneurship class and used it in conjunction with DECA. But most students or teams participate independently without the competition being embedded in their classes.
Ilene supports our philosophy of Compete Globally, Pitch Locally. The Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Pitch Competition is the most prestigious virtual and global pitch competition in the world for high school students and Ilene wants her students to learn to compete with the very best students around the world.
Click the link to the right to learn more from a teacher, just like you.
Five Case Study Interviews With High School Teachers Who Implemented the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Pitch Competition Into Their Classes
Skyline High School
An Interview with Ann Arbor Skyline High School Teacher Michelle Wargo
Spanish River High School
An interview with Alain Bazile from Boca Raton, Florida. Image featuring Alain and his students with the $1,000 check from the Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition.
Pillager High School
An interview with Bryan Pederson. Students at Phillager HS won $1,000 from the Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition.
Ruben S. Ayala High School
An Interview with Ruben S. Ayala High School Teacher Derek Arnell
Ward Melville High School
Learn about how Ilene Littman and Ward Melville integrated the Blue Ocean Competition into their classes.
Why Teachers Should Register
If you are interested in teaching students about entrepreneurship, you have come to the right place. Whether you are interested in offering valuable content for your high school entrepreneur class or starting a high school entrepreneurial club in your school, the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Pitch Competition can help. Teachers who register get free access to content that is invaluable to students. This is the place to be for high school entrepreneur teachers!!! There is no charge.
What’s in it for your school?
By participating in the Blue Ocean Competition, your students will discover things that you simply can’t teach from a book or in the classroom. After competing, your students will have a much better understanding of what it takes to start a business, pitch an idea and how the most innovative companies stand out from the rest of the pack.
They will express their creativity, improve public speaking skills, and have an opportunity to win cash prizes. Plus, you’ll stand out as an innovator, increase the value that you provide to students and potentially win money for your school!
We offer prize money to the top schools with the most submissions (each wins $1,000) as well as prizes for the most pitches that make our Top 25. The content that we provide is worth thousands of dollars and is free to schools and teachers who register.
Our 2021 High School Participation Winners
Here are the high schools that were the 2021 winners that won prize money in the competition.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
Ward Melville High School, East Setauket, New York
Spanish River Community High School, Boca Raton, Florida
South Brunswick High School, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey
Herningsholm Erhversgymnasium, Herning, Denmark
Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon, California
Irvington High School, Fremont, CA
Barrington High School, Barrington, IL
Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, California
Teacher Resources
By registering, you will get free access to the Blue Ocean Mini-Course which provides valuable content you can use in your classroom. The online course will help your students understand the fundamentals of Blue Ocean Strategy and help them prepare for their pitch. Your class will walk away with a new perspective and the tools and frameworks to build new entrepreneurial businesses of tomorrow.
The mini-course is fast, fun and interactive. Teachers loved this resource last year and widely used it with their students.
Also, find valuable student resources on our Pitch Resources page.
In addition, we will provide a pdf presentation to help you introduce students to “Blue Ocean Strategy.”
If you are not familiar with Blue Ocean, you should. The books Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift by world renown authors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne are often required reading in college entrepreneurial courses and are used by entrepreneurs worldwide.
