FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 19, 2001

THEY DON'T FLIP BURGERS

3 ENTREPRENEURIAL TEENS FROM ROCHESTER AND TORONTO CREATE WINNING THINKQUEST WEBSITE

Rochester, New York and Toronto, Ontario - December 5, 2001 - A student team of 3 teenagers - Brian Kirchoff, 15 years old, from Rochester; Robert Lin and Rebecca Rose, both 19, from Toronto - have announced today their success in winning as finalists of this year's Thinkquest Internet Challenge ( www.Thinkquest.org ), and will each be awarded scholarships of $5000 USD by Thinkquest.

The Thinkquest Internet Challenge is an annual, worldwide, student team-based educational website competition for 12 to 19 year olds, and has been run by a not-for-profit organization based in Armonk, New York since 1996.

Brian, Robert and Rebecca made their winning website, "I Don't Flip Burgers!! The Student's Webguide to Entrepreneurial Success", to help their youth peers learn about how to start and run a successful small business. Many students go to dull, often minimum wage summer jobs such as flipping hamburgers in order come up with the money to prepare and pay for university. Brian, Robert and Rebecca wanted to make a website where students could come to learn about entrepreneurship so that they could use entrepreneurship as a better alternative to making that money.

To help students learn about and become entrepreneurs, the website is designed with several key areas. An online business simulator area where students face 120 simulated days as an entrepreneur; a library area with step-by-step basics and useful resource listings so students learn how to start a real business; a tools area of web-based, organizational and paperwork tools to help a student business; and a forum area for further discussions or to grow the business through networking with other student entrepreneurs.

The team was formed earlier this year around May. Robert came across the Thinkquest website while surfing the web, became inspired and wanted to create a website on youth entrepreneurship. Robert asked a few people and Rebecca, a classmate at Don Mills C.I., agreed to enter Thinkquest with Robert. Searching for a 3rd student member, Robert met Brian, who was looking for a team to join, while on the Thinkquest online message boards. Once details were approved according to the rules, the team was officially registered.

They worked on the website throughout the summer. Brian, who had experience in creating the database-driven website of his Penfield High School, was able to learn and adapt to the different system used by Thinkquest. Working from home in Rochester, Brian concentrated on the intensive programming for this website which made all the interactivity and database-driven functionality possible. In Toronto, Rebecca and Robert had full-time day jobs (Rebecca at Alias Wavefront, Robert at DXNET ) but managed to meet, often using lunch breaks, after work, or on weekends at the public library to discuss and plan the website.

They also met with their main mentor Winston Siegel, an entrepreneur and uncle of Rebecca, who pushed them to focus and clarify their ideas. Also giving feedback were two coaches: Luigi Ferrara, an entrepreneur and president of DXNET; and Tito Faria, former director and teacher of the CyberARTS program which Robert and Rebecca had both graduated from at Don Mills C.I.

In the evenings, Rebecca and Robert worked at home the content and design while Brian worked on the programming, at the same time communicating and exchanging files through ICQ, email and ftp. To have one collective place to post and store group notes such as plans, website URLs, issues, the team used a free online service called Blogger ( www.blogger.com ). It was especially useful for the Toronto-based team members to share info and update Brian on mentor feedback and meetings, and as a project log for all to use as a reference.

The website has received much positive feedback from entrepreneurial organizations.

"An incredible resource for entrepreneurial teens everywhere! I can't tell you how impressed I am with how much you've accomplished in such a short amount of time. The information provided here is outstanding and the business startup simulation is sure to give aspiring entrepreneurs a great head start before jumping into their own ventures"
- Jennifer Kushell,
President and Founder,
The Young Entrepreneurs Network
http://www.youngandsuccessful.com/

"'I Don't Flip Burgers' not only educates students on the principles of entrepreneurship, but just as important inspires them by setting an example - if you're looking for successful entrepreneurs look no further than Robert, Rebecca and Brian!"
- Sarah Bowes,
Campus Program Director
ACE-Canada
http://www.acecanada.ca

"A well designed and well organized site that offers many valuable tools, perspectives and resources for students who are interested in entrepreneurship. The content is practical, the business planning tool is well structured, and the Personality Quiz is fun and brings up great ideas about jobs that relate to individual talents and interests."
- Jennifer Corriero,
Energizer, Co-Founder & Director
TakingITGlobal
http://www.takingitglobal.org

The team is now back at school. Brian is a sophomore at Penfield High School and runs a web service business. Robert is currently at University of Toronto studying architecture, volunteers at TakingITGlobal, and aims for a career as a serial entrepreneur. Rebecca continues to run her own video/web design business while studying film production as a full-time student at Ryerson University. She plans to pursue a career in directing short and feature films while closely following the explosion of the new media industry.

Their "I Don't Flip Burgers!!" website is found at

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0114800

and it will join the online library collection of more than 5,000 student-created websites freely available for use by students, educators, and the general public through the Thinkquest website.

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Contact:
Robert Lin