These 13 students, ages 16 and 17, will debut their newly launched businesses or social movements to consumers, potential clients or investors. Free and open to the public, this event will also give patrons the opportunity to support these students by purchasing products and/or signing up for services offered.

Students involved in YEA! have been groomed by Houston's business owners and start-up support groups since fall 2013. The trade show is a culmination of the program's overall goal for the students to become CEOs of their own company or social movement.

Houston Community College and Alief ISD have partnered with YEA!, an innovative program that guides students through the process of starting their own real business. By the end of the class, students own and operate fully formed and functioning businesses, which may be carried on after their graduation from the program. YEA! is the only pre-college program developed by an entrepreneur, at an institute of higher education, with support from a major entrepreneurial foundation, the Marion Kauffman Foundation.

For more information about YEA! email Josephine Firat at josephine.firat@hccs.edu. Media interested in attending this event contact Sandra Soliz at solizs@stthom.edu or 713.525.3116.  

WHEN:           April 22, 2014

                        12:15 pm - 2:10 pm and 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

WHERE:        University of St. Thomas 

                        Crooker Patio