PLATTEVILLE — The third annual Elevator Pitch competition sponsored by the UW–Platteville Pioneer Academic Center for Community Engagement was held Nov. 14.

Students delivered their business and product ideas to a panel of judges and tried to sell them on their idea in a maximum of two minutes.

Dr. Kevin Bernhardt, director of PACCE, moderated the competition.

The first place winner was Jordan Riemer, senior agribusiness major from Brodhead, who pitched an idea on developing a line of potting soil.

“This has been a great learning experience that you just can’t get anywhere else on campus,” said Riemer. “I would like to thank the PACCE program for organizing the competition and the judges and coaches for volunteering their time to help with our business ideas.”

Riemer also earned second place in the Business Plan competition last spring.

Tom Aronson, senior industrial studies major from Clinton, Iowa, received second place for his pitch on his apparel line, Droptine.

“You can’t catch your dreams if you’re not out there chasing them,” said Aronson.

The third place winner was Amadou Hanne, senior business administration major from Moline, Ill., whose pitch was titled Open Your World.

“I would like to thank the school and the sponsors for giving us this opportunity to learn and develop our entrepreneurship skills,” said Hanne. Hanne won third place in the Business Plan competition last spring.

Brian Blanchette, junior business finance major from Mineral Point, also earned a nod from the judges for his presentation.

The competition was judged by Jodi Marshall, Platteville High School agriculture instructor; Scott Skelly, Corn Mazes America LLC founder and owner; and Dave Decker, certified public and motivational speaker. Each student had the opportunity to meet with a coach who gave feedback on the presentations —Brock Waterman, Fundunity LLC and GeNext Software owner; Denise Deaton-Tolzman, Queen B Media Team sales manager; Ed White, Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning economic development program manager; and George Krueger, UW–Platteville business and accounting assistant professor.

The competition was sponsored in part by Midwest Hospitality of Platteville, Wisconsin Bank and Trust of Platteville and Hagen Insurance of Evansville.