ATU Teams Advance in Governor’s Cup

Five Arkansas Tech University students are among those selected to present their business ideas during the next stage of competition for the 2019 Donald W. Reynolds Arkansas Governor’s Cup.

Presentations are scheduled for March 28-29 at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce headquarters in downtown Little Rock. The winners will be announced during a luncheon on April 11 in the Wally Allen Ballroom at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

ATU senior Madeline Carter of Cedarville is a finalist in the Arkansas Farm Bureau agriculture division and a semifinalist in the overall competition for her vision of “Tank’s Treats.”

The proposed business would sell locally-sourced dog treats.

Carter is an agriculture business major with an emphasis in animal science. She is pursuing a minor in marketing.

A team of four ATU management and marketing students has also reached the semifinals of the overall competition.

Seniors Easton Carter of Dardanelle, Scott Conrad of Fort Smith and Isaac Hale of Aledo, Texas, along with junior Nicholas Grice of Western Grove are proposing a user-driven, interactive mobile application named “GoAR.”

The proposed app would focus on outdoor recreation opportunities in Arkansas and provide users with the ability to share updates on conditions at particular locations of interest.

Dr. Stephen Jones, professor of management, is serving as advisor for the ATU teams in the competition.

According to the website of presenting organization Arkansas Capital, the Donald W. Reynolds Arkansas Governor’s Cup challenges students to develop “ideas for new or better products or services to see if they could be profitable by putting it through a rigorous and real-world entrepreneurial process.”

The competition was founded in 2001.

Learn more about the Donald W. Reynolds Arkansas Governor’s Cup.

Photographed (from left-to-right): Madeline Carter, Easton Carter, Scott Conrad, Nicholas Grice, Isaac Hale and Dr. Stephen Jones.