Each year, the Texas Tech University Innovation Hub hosts a three-day event that allows participants to dive into entrepreneurship. From college students and faculty to high schoolers and community members, participants collaborate to turn raw ideas into early-stage ventures while gaining skills in teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability.
At the recent event, more than 100 people came together to brainstorm innovative solutions and attend workshops led by mentors and industry experts. The weekend concluded with a pitch competition, where teams presented their ventures to a panel of judges for the $1,000 grand prize sponsored by the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA).
Of the 12 teams in attendance, the winning team included Ricky Lara, a 2024 Frenship graduate, and Charisma Hile, a current Frenship High School senior and Red Raider Startup alumna. Together, they successfully pitched their idea for a social platform called Chorus, designed to connect emerging musicians and artists with a community of followers, venues, and music enthusiasts.
Lara and Hile began their partnership a couple of years ago in the INCubatoredu class at Frenship High School. In the program, students are given the space to develop innovative ideas and learn the steps to turn their dreams into reality.
INCubatoredu teacher Lauren Denning explained that Lara and Hile first launched their entrepreneurship project in class, but continued to refine their app even after Lara graduated. With the support of mentors and peers at the Red Raider Startup event, they were able to strengthen their idea and ultimately secure the prize money to invest in their business venture.
“Anytime you can get out of the classroom and around other like-minded people, especially people with more experience than you, you will grow,” said Denning. “We have promoted this event in the past, but to see our students having success in it was really encouraging to our current Incubator students and got them more excited to create their own businesses this year.”
For Hile, the experience was both inspiring and validating as she and Lara saw their idea come to life beyond the classroom.
“My team and I have worked hard to make our big dream into a reality and to know we achieved our first step was both shocking and exciting,” said Hile. “We are super excited to keep pursuing Chorus and change the music industry forever.”
Hile explained that the $1,000 prize money will be used to help Chorus get protection over the idea and start the development of the software to help get a workable product for everyone to use and benefit from.
"Our next steps are to get a working product on the market so we can grow our company and expand our ideas to our customers,” said Hile. “We understand that behind every song is a story and someone hopes you’ll hear it. Our goal is to bring all these stories to the center stage and expand the music industry one note at a time.”
As they continue developing Chorus, their goal is to strengthen the local music economy while celebrating musical diversity worldwide. Lara and Hile’s success is a testament to the hands-on learning opportunities Frenship students receive through programs like INCubatoredu, where creativity and innovation are encouraged beyond the classroom.