With the school year winding down, a handful of Elizabethton High School students were recognized for their work during the inaugural year of Bartleby School.

Elizabethton City Schools held a “pitch night” Thursday at T.A. Dugger Junior High School for EHS students part of the Entrepreneurship class — offered through Bartleby — to present their businesses that were created during the second semester of school.

Bartleby was instituted this year after the high school was able to win a #200,000 grant through XQ America’s Super School Project. EHS sociology students were recognized as a super school at a national level and were able to implement two new classes their academic year, entrepreneurship and community involvement.

Terry Smith, Bartleby director, announced during the event that ECS was able to receive “multi-million dollar” grant funding due to the amount of projects students and staff were able to accomplish this year, while barely dipping into the award total.

“We needed a vision and a dream,” Smith said. “We want to thank everyone involved, including (Director of Schools) Dr. (Corey) Gardenhour. He put the resources behind this project from the school system.

“We received the award amount and were able to spend around $3,000 to put our projects in action. XQ was blown away by what we were able to accomplish,” he added. “They said we were able to do more than what other super schools have done. We were awarded a multi-million dollar grant to help put in some of our other ideas. We’re excited about this opportunity to start working on other improvements for the program.”

Ideas that are being passed around for the grant project includes the creation of an amphitheater at the entrance of the school for performing arts students. Other ideas being discussed include the creation of an online portion of Bartleby and implemented blended courses for students.

The main portion of the event was the opportunity for students to showcase their different businesses. Students that participated in the night included Chandlor Mullins, Dylan Nordby, Colton Grindstaff, Hannah Roaten, Ryan Browder, Geoffrey Munday and Tyson Vance.  Southern Strength Apparel, heART Natural Productions, Local Harvest Delivery, Creative Carpentry and Torch Ministries were all spotlighted to the public, and in front of a board of “sharks”.

The “sharks” were made up of local business and community leaders that were able to work alongside students for the development of their businesses. Financial advisor Thomas Davis, Kevin Vaughn with Pals, J’s Corner owner and Carter County Register of Deeds-elect Jarrod Ellis, local businessman Charles VonCannon, Amy Pate-Goode and Dr. Paul Paul Picnicky with Tusculum College.

Students were able to discuss each of their businesses and how much of a profit they have been able to turn during the school year. Roaten, owner of Local Harvest Delivery, was honored months ago for her business idea during a Shark Tank event held at Northeast State Community College and received a cash prize for efforts.

At the conclusion of the event, Smith and Bartleby teachers, Alex Campbell, Jessica Hayes and Dustin Hensley, took a moment to recognize the senior members of the class that helped usher in the first year of the program.