Currently under the management of Sean Gross '11, Patrick Fives '12 and Sam Richards '12, Wake Wash provides door-to-door laundry and dry-cleaning services for Wake Forest students. The current owners purchased the company from its founders, Scott Graber ('10), Julie Musgrave ('10), and Eleanor Smith ('10) who started the company in 2007. The company has grown significantly and now boasts a formal partnership with Salem Dry Cleaners as well as several dedicated student employees and a growing list of customers. For more information please visit: www.WakeWashWFU.com.
CampusCakes provides a service that connects parents to their university students on birthdays and other special occasions. Launched in February 2010, the venture offers a variety of baked goods, personalized cakes and party materials that parents can order to have hand delivered to their child’s room. Founders Christopher Class' 11, Stacey Graf '11, Matthew Kaden '11 and David Motta '11 combined forces to provide Wake parents a convenient way to bridge the difficult gap between home and school. CampusCakes practices target marketing by sending mailers out to parents during their child’s birthday month. In May 2011, the founders successfully sold the business. It continues to operate under new management.
Megan Van Buren '13 started her jewelry business, Simply Megan, when she as 13 years old. She makes unique beaded necklaces, breacelets, earrings, and rings made of semi-precious stones, Swarovski Crystal, various types of glass such as venetian and dichroic glass, precious metals, and various other mediums. She also has begun a line of jewelry that incorporated Kazuri ceramic beads which are hand painted in Kenya, Africa. Kazuri, which is an International Fair Trades Member, has set out to provide and sustain employment opportunities for disadvantaged members of the Kenyan society. Megan has had success selling her jewelry at home shows, fine arts festivals, and to retail stores. To check out Simply Megan Jewelry, visit Megan's website http://simplymeganjewelry.com/shop/simply-megan-necklaces
Brad Silver '12 has combined his passion with his entrepreneurial spirit. Summer Rentals is a jet-ski rental business located on Lake Gaston in North Carolina/Virginia which has provided jet-ski rental services to the Lake Gaston area since 2004 and is now trying to expand the business to match growing demand. Summer Rentals stands apart from its competitors by delivering the jet-ski rentals to any rental home or campsite on the lake and by offering the lowest prices for multi-day rentals. Silver operates his company from an apple iPad so that he can process credit cards, and keep up with company files and paperwork while on the go. Visit www.lakegastononline.com/jetski/
Ryan Edwards '12 is the founder of Booty Wax, a 100% organic surf wax composed of beeswax, coconut oil, pine resin, and a secret add-in that makes the wax bead up on the board. His product is 100% organic and is environmentally friendly and safe. He promotes Booty Wax through his website where he also sells promotional merchandise like T-shirts and hoodies. To read more about Ryan and his venture, or to buy a T-shirt, visit http://www.freewebs.com/bootywax/.
Jonathan Williams '14 started Delightfully Daisy in 2005 when he was only 13 years old. Delightfully Daisy produces gourmet dog treats made of 100% human-grade ingredients that are free of added preservatives, by-products and synthetic food coloring. Using wholesome ingredients such as rolled oats and creamy peanut butter, Delightfully Daisy produces 5 oz. bag treats and single bone treats in the Poppin' Peanut Butter flavor. Visit the Delightfully Daisy website for more information. http://www.delightfullydaisy.com/index.html
Bentrice Jusu '13 founded Both Hands Artlet out of her desire to help inner-city youth. Both Hands Artlet is an innovative non-profit organization that serves inner-city youth who are endangered by violence in their homes and on the streets of Trenton, New Jersey. Her vision for Both Hands Artlet is for it to become a center for creative expression and release that embraces ALL teens, whether labeled delinquent, misbehaved, intellectual or extremely talented.
Vincent Cerniglia '12 came up with the idea for CampusConnect as a junior at Wake Forest. Campus Connect is a mobile smartphone application that uses Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and RIM’s Blackberry to provide important information to college and high school students around the United States and potentially around the world. Vincent completed a working prototype that was recently approved by Apple’s App Store. Not only does this application allow the user to see what their dining halls are serving for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it also provides a campus map and school directory; allows students to quickly access information on Division 1 sports for the university; and provides the ability to search for important news updates posted by the school.
Mike Otis '13, a former tutor himself, started Eagle Learning Center in his sophomore year at Wake Forest. The Eagle Learning Center offers standardized test preparation, enrichment programs, and general tutoring for students in Kindergarten through high school. Eagle Learning Center focuses on differentiating itself in two central aspects: greater student improvement and reasonable prices. The Center implements several strategies aimed at creating an incentive-based education environment. Mike hopes to expand the Eagle Learning Center to several locations and eventually would like to franchise the model. Visit the website at http://www.theeaglelearningcenter.com/index.html.
Peter Lacerenza '12 and Reed Perry '12 founded Sweet Pete and Hoyt's Dogs, which provides an alternative dining option on campus giving students an affordable, late-night food. The service sells hot dogs, nachos, chips, and beverages.
Catherine Coelho '12 started The Great American Writers Camp in the summer of 2011 to help students in grades five through eight develop their creative writing skills through interactive activities that both inspire and motivate. The program teaches learning through different types of experiences and settings. In addition to creative writing, students also get the opportunity to practice public speaking and to present their writings to their peers.
White Phoenix Research Group LLC is a company started by Marco Banfi '13 and James Rex '13 targeting major motion picture production companies and independent film studios with a great idea -- Bubbles. Bubbles is a way for viewers to interact with film trailers in a way that will provide specific audience-oriented research data to the production companies. These companies can then evaluate their audience so that they can create successful products and market them strategically.
