Trophies and prize money tell only part of the story.
This year, students from Adams Middle School, Parras Middle School, and Redondo Union High School earned top honors in STEM, esports, and entrepreneurship competitions, but the biggest victories weren't measured in awards. They were measured in confidence, curiosity, and the realization that their ideas matter.
At the middle school level, students competed in programs supported by the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation and facilitated by Lollipop Labs, a social impact agency founded by Redondo Beach resident Alan Zack. Through innovation challenges and esports competitions, students are encouraged to tackle real-world problems while learning to work together and think creatively.
“Our mission is to inspire more students to pursue STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics] fields. We have a huge deficit of [STEAM] graduates in America,” explained Zack. "Kids are amazing. Given the right platform, given the right resources, given the right time, these kids can amaze us. . .”
One of those students was Parras Middle School's Akshitha Vinodh. Her invention, the COnserve PureFire Smart System, won the City of STEM Innovation Challenge, beating around 75 teams from across Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Though naturally shy, Akshitha's confidence grew when she had the opportunity to talk about her invention. "Because she knows her technology and her idea so well, it just came out," Zack said. "She was so eloquent explaining how it works."
He has seen similar transformations time and again. "We love that kids can be heroes," Zack said. Those moments are exactly what inspire him. "Students come out of the woodwork because they want to win a prize, but as they come out of the woodwork, they're also solving a big problem," he said. "And they're always amazed that they came up with these ideas. They surprise themselves that they had these ideas."
Jayden Sampay, Adhrith Arun, and Hudson Gallen, students from Adams Middle School, captured the Battle of the South Bay esports championship, which featured teams from Da Vinci, El Segundo, Hawthorne, and Lawndale. "They communicated," he said when asked why their team won. Later, the same Adams team placed second at the Compton Cup, which featured top middle school and high school esports teams.
The same qualities that propelled these middle school students—curiosity, creativity, and perseverance—were equally evident among Redondo Union High School's aspiring entrepreneurs.
Under the guidance of entrepreneurship teacher Mike SooHoo and with support from local business leaders who served as judges, 10 Redondo Union High School teams advanced from a field of 44 to Project ECHO's High School Entrepreneurs' Business Plan Competition.
Facing 42 teams from 15 schools, Redondo Union students returned with five awards. Their startup companies earned recognition across multiple categories. Finity captured first place in the Services category and earned Best Overall Business Plan—the first time a Redondo Union team has received the competition's top honor. In the Products category, VibeLine took first place, Cream and Carbon placed second, and Sprinkle Shield finished third, while Ascendia earned second place in Services.
Project ECHO recognized SooHoo as its 2025 Chip Goodman Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year, but for him, the true reward is seeing students discover their own potential.
"For me, it's showing my students that entrepreneurship can become a reality by guiding them to find their confidence and potential to discover new opportunities that can become lifetime passions and possible careers," he said. "But what makes it really rewarding for me is when I see students like Lily Bame come out with a driving passion to make something happen in this world."
Just before the end of the school year, Lily, CEO of VibeLine, handed SooHoo a two-page handwritten letter thanking him for changing the course of her life. "You didn't just teach me personal finance, how to write a business plan, create a pitch deck, or present an idea," Lily wrote. "You taught me how to believe in myself, push through challenges, and turn an idea into something real."
Reflecting on her first-place finish, she added, "Winning first place was an amazing experience, but the most valuable part of this year wasn't the award; it was everything I learned along the way."
Those words capture SooHoo's perspective on this year's competitors. "What impressed me most was that the teams that came out on top I feel really deserved their wins because I watched them ideate, wrestle, change, and problem solve for the betterment of their business; and in the end, experienced the journey of what it took to be a young entrepreneur," he said.
Long after the checks are cashed and the trophies are displayed, the lessons remain. And if this year’s winners are any indication, the future is being shaped by young people who are discovering, along the way, not only how to dream big, but how to believe they can make those dreams a reality.