Three at SPHS honored for efforts at school event

SOUTH POINT — Three South Point High School Students have been honored for their entrepreneurial efforts.

Caleb Pennington, Jakob Helton and Jimmy Hart recently took part in the Dare to Dream competition through Ohio University Southern, along with 13 other teams throughout Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.

The trio, with their brand Odd Oblivion, a clothing company, came in first in Ohio.

“And we took second place overall,” Pennington said. “Because we received second place, we received $3,750.”

On Monday, they were recognized at an assembly at the school, with a presentation by Andy and Tim Glockner, where they were presented with the monetary award.

“They won $3,750, cash,” Mike Thompson, of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, said. “$1,250 was given to each student, with no strings or restrictions on what they use it for.”

Thompson had high praise for Joan Hall, the student’s teacher at the school.

“I can not say enough positives about Mrs. Hall,” he said. “She took the initiative to contact me when she heard about the program and asked me to come and talk to her students. We started with three or four teams, and Odd Oblivion stayed with it and it paid off.  South Point schools are very lucky to have a teacher like her who cares about her students and is willing to do the extra things that benefit them.”

The Dare to Dream program is a TechGrowth Ohio program that works with entrepreneurs to help start new business.

Thompson said this is the second year for the program and thatthey doubled the amount of students participating and doubled the sponsors to $25,000 for the Tri-State.

He said they plan on continuing the program and anticipate it growing further in future years.