Schulze Innovation Scholarship Awardees

Cohort 6

Jasmine Lota

My name is Jasmine Lota and I’m from Shakopee, MN Ever since I joined DECA in 11th grade, I wanted to be part of a team that created positive change within my community. In August of 2022, my two friends and I started and implemented a Chapter Campaign, which is when students use elements from the project management process to plan and manage their campaigns. We chose the Community Awareness Campaign because I felt strongly about spreading awareness about childhood illness and how it affects the lives of the children impacted We met and partnered with Children’s Minnesota during our eight-month campaign and all profits made and inkind donations collected were donated to the hospital. Within our project, we held several events and service projects, including hosting the first charity Diwali festival ever to be held at our school The Community Awareness Campaign is also the first time this campaign has been led by DECA students at our school, and we were thrilled to learn how our initiatives impacted the young ones at Children’s Minnesota. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a Schulze Scholar and can’t wait to further my entrepreneurial journey at St. Thomas!

Grayson Spronk

My name is Grayson Spronk and I am from Prior Lake, Minnesota. I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset. In middle school I was mowing lawns, shoveling driveways and reselling high end sneakers to earn some extra cash. In high school I started a small business called Dock It Detailing Dock It Detailing is a mobile boat detailing business servicing the south metro, Lake Minnetonka and Brainerd Lakes areas. I came up with the idea in 2020 after helping clean our family watercraft and realizing how much work it was to clean a boat from top to bottom I have now detailed over 200 boats, provided summer employment for a number of friends, met some amazing people and learned so much about what it takes to both start and grow a successful business. In the future I would love to expand Dock It Detail to additional lake communities, and potentially even a brick & mortar location. I am truly grateful to be awarded the Schulze Innovation Scholarship and cannot wait to begin my journey at The University of St. Thomas.