{"id":504852,"date":"2026-06-22T03:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/504852\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T03:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:41:18","slug":"centerstate-ceo-offers-whiz-kidz-summer-program-for-kids-focusing-on-entrepreneurship-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/504852\/","title":{"rendered":"CenterState CEO offers Whiz Kidz summer program for kids focusing on entrepreneurship, innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

CenterState CEO is offering a new, weeklong summer program for middle schoolers to inspire future entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Whiz Kidz<\/a> is open to rising seventh and eighth grade students who are interested in \u201ccreativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and teamwork.\u201d <\/p>\n

The program will run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 24 to 28 at the INSPYRE Innovation Hub<\/a> in downtown Syracuse. Cost to attend is $300<\/a>. Families can apply for a scholarship, sponsored by broadband company PPC Belden, by filling out an application<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This is a pilot program for CenterState CEO, with the hope of expanding it in future years, said Elle Hanna, senior vice president of marketing and communications. <\/p>\n

Nine of the 15 spots available have already been filled, Hanna said. Registration will remain open until the program is full, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids will get a problem that they\u2019ll have to solve,\u201d Hanna said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to hear from other entrepreneurs about how they problem solved, and why that sparked their business. Over the course of the week, they will think about who their customers are, they\u2019re thinking about their budgets. They\u2019ll put together a pitch deck and learn about pitching … and a final presentation on the last day, which is geared to be a little more celebratory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"INSPYREThe INSPYRE Innovation Hub by CenterState CEO.Provided photo<\/p>\n

Participants will spend one day that week at Elite Gaming<\/a> where they will be tasked as a team to build a virtual public park on a budget, Hanna said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we built INSPYRE, one of the goals that we had for that facility was to have it be a place for all in our community, to have people see themselves in that,\u201d she said. \u201cOur goal is to make sure that our youth know that this is happening here and be inspired by it. That\u2019s who we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CenterState CEO is offering a new, weeklong summer program for middle schoolers to inspire future entrepreneurs. Whiz Kidz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[114,293,85,46],"class_list":["post-504852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}