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����Vlog’s budding entrepreneurs are turning their creative ideas into real-world businesses through the Entrepreneurship Market Expo.

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Groups of forward-thinking entrepreneurship��students from the district’s Career + Technical Center will debut their businesses and products at the Expo on Feb. 26-27.

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But businesses need money, so the has partnered with the CTC’s entrepreneurship program to provide over $6,500 in microgrants to 19 groups of students.

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The Chamber presented the grants to the students in a ceremony recently at the CTC.

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“We love this day so much,” said Alicia Collins-Butler, the Chamber’s senior director of strategic initiatives, to the students. “We heard you pitch. We heard your businesses. We think they’re fantastic ideas. It gives us hope for the next generation that you guy will go on to do incredible things.”

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The experience of developing a business plan, pitching it, and then actually executing the business plan is exactly the kind of real-world education the CTC offers.

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“It gives them a real taste of what it means to be an entrepreneur, but also what it means to be a business owner,��how to figure it all out, and how to support one another,” said Collins-Butler. “Collaboration and communication, that’s a huge piece.”

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The students are excited for the opportunity that puts their dreams within reach.

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“This is definitely a new experience, and I look forward to it a lot because I’ve never been able to do something like this,” said Harsimran Dhani, a student from Seguin High School. “Every single day I’m just a [little] closer to being ready to sell all the items that we’re making.”