East Stroudsburg University

With three academic degrees, her own publishing company and a full-time job as a library director, Christina Steffy might be expected to rest on her laurels. Instead, Steffy is currently finishing her master's degree in professional and digital media writing at East Stroudsburg University.

For the second year in a row, an ESU student-owned business and a Monroe County-based business won both the collegiate and non-collegiate divisions of the tecBRIDGE Business Plan Competition held via Facebook Live on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.

East Stroudsburg University walked away with top honors in both the collegiate and non-collegiate sectors of the tecBRIDGE Business Plan Competition on April 25 at the F.M. Kirby Center in downtown Wilkes-Barre. ESU students Zachary Waldman and Nick Neely, both seniors majoring in computer security from Mechanicsburg, Pa., earned first place in the collegiate sector of the competition with their creation, Falchion Systems. Nicole Chinnici '14, director of The Jane Huffman Wildlife Genetics Institute at ESU, won first place in the non-collegiate sector with her creation, Organtick. Winning companies received $10,000 in cash and up to $100,000 of in-kind business support services. Jessica Rosen, a 2011 graduate of ESU from Henryville was a finalist in the non-collegiate competition with her reptile food business, The Laughing Lizard.

East Stroudsburg University students who believe they have a great idea for a new business, or a goal to grow a business they've already started are encouraged to participate in the eighth annual Student Business Plan Competition sponsored by Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education.

ESU students Zach Waldman and Samuel Neely won first place at the second Lehigh Valley Collegiate Business Pitch Summit on April 26. Their company Falchion Systems is an endpoint cybersecurity organization that protects companies' networks from social engineering attacks. The two computer science majors from Mechanicsburg, Pa., are taking poor user behavior out of the equation when it comes to computer security. With Falchion Systems' software, Bulwark, even if a computer user downloads harmful malware, it won't infect the operating system.

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania Students won the second and third place prizes in the seventh annual Student Business Plan Competition sponsored by Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education.