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UW Oshkosh senior Devan Hohn makes her startup business pitch to a panel of judges at Fox Cities Stadium on April 27.


Consider it another successful pitch for University of Wisconsin Oshkosh senior special education major Devan Hohn.

Just weeks after earning the top prize at the Culver’s Business Model Competition at UW Oshkosh, the Hortonville native took first place at the Pitch, a startup business pitch competition featuring college students and student teams from around northeast Wisconsin held at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

For her Rising Phoenix Martial Arts concept, Hohn stood out among the field of 10 students or student teams from UWO, Lawrence University, UW-Green Bay, St. Norbert College and the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her winnings include a $10,000 cash prize and $15,000 in in-kind services.

Rising Phoenix Martial Arts is an inclusive martial arts school for youth and adults. It will be open to all ages for training, but its niche will be classes for adults and children with both mild and significant disabilities and needs. The overall objective is to create a welcoming culture that doesn’t now exist in the martial arts world—one where students of all ages and abilities can be successful. At the Culver’s Business Model Competition earlier in April, the pitch landed Hohn more than $11,000 in cash and in-kind services.

The Pitch event also included UWO students Kevin Dwyer, a Campbellsport native working toward a master’s degree in business administration, and Noah Bauer, a junior marketing major from Neenah. Both are in the Titan Accelerator Program and receive $5,000 in milestone-based funding to support business development.

Judges for the April 27 competition were Kabinga Maini, senior engineering project manager for Plexus Corp., Adrienne Palm, director of corporate sponsorship for PBS Wisconsin, and Chloe Pahl, a venture associate at TitletownTech.

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