Queens Students Take Top Honors in Community/School-Based Businesses

A 22-year-old founder of a nonprofit organization offering free cancer and cardiovascular screenings for immigrants, a 16-year-old web developer from Rego Park, a 15-year-old Forest Hills iPod case designer, a 15-year-old also from Forest Hills who founded a nonprofit to get books into the hands of the needy, a pair of 16-year-old publishers from Astoria, and a 16-year-old chocolatier from Jamaica are winners in the 2006 Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards Competition. The Queens finalists were among 20 winners city-wide who displayed their products and services at the Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards Exposition at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
The annual Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards, administered by Citizens for NYC, recognizes and supports youth entrepreneurs, promotes youth innovation, and links youth-run ventures to the many business sectors in New York City.
Queens residents took the top honors in both the individual category and in the category of Community-Based/School-Based Business. Individual winners are:
Grand Prize: Ravneet Kaur, 22, originally from Queens, founded the South Asian Community Health Project (SACH) to provide free cancer and cardiovascular screening for underserved, uninsured immigrants in all five boroughs through a partnership with NYU Medical School. As the contest’s top prize winner, Ravneet received a $2,500 college scholarship.
First Prize: Qing “John” Yun Xie, 16, of Rego Park taught himself HTML from a book when he was 10 years old and hasn’t stopped coding since. He opened his first business, which offers Linux-based webhosting solutions, when he was in the 8th grade. His company, Cirtex Corp., today serves more than 500 customers. John, who attends Bronx High School of Science, took First Prize in the overall competition, earning him a $1,500 grant.
Jane Xi Chen, 15, of Forest Hills, manufactures and sells iPod cases through her company iShell by JXC. Jane handmakes a variety of these iShells cases, created based on the characteristics of a seashell - simplicity, beauty and durability. Jane, who also attends Bronx High School of Science, donates 7 percent of her annual income to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides medical and emotional support to people with cancer.
Raphael Spiro, 15, of Forest Hills is the founder of a student-run nonprofit venture, Bedsidebooks, which collects and donates used books and puts them into the hands of needy members of the community, including nursing homes, hospitals, shelters for battered women and wounded troops. He is also a student at Bronx High School of Science.
The winners in the category of Community-Based/School-Based Business from Queens:
Grand Prize: Glean Magazine, founded by Frasat Ahmad, 16, and Shamsul Hussein, 16, of Astoria. First Prize: The Candy Confection, founded by Shantol Henry, 16, from Jamaica, Queens. The grand-prize winner received a college scholarship of $2,500, and the first-, second-, and third-prize winners were awarded grants of $1,500, $750 and $500, respectively. Each of the remaining winners received a $150 grant, and an additional $150 to defray the costs of setting up their exhibits at the Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Month Exposition.