THETFORD — On Thursday, April 3, a team of three Thetford Academy students will travel to the University of Vermont to make a pitch for their nonprofit designed to help neurodivergent young people transition to life after high school.

Their business, MIND, was one of five pitches selected from a pool of over 140 candidates worldwide by UVM’s Entrepreneurship Club, which organizes the school’s Vermont Pitch Challenge, now in its second year.

The project is close to home for siblings Penelope and Elie O’Brien, and Hardy Payson.

“We’ve all had personal experiences with neurodiversity — each of us has a sibling who is neurodivergent, and in my case, I’m autistic myself,” Penelope O’Brien, a junior, said in an email correspondence.

“We wanted to create a not-for-profit business that directly addresses those challenges — not just for ourselves, but for others like us,” she said.

UVM’s Vermont Pitch Challenge launched last year with the intention of encouraging high school students to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors in college and beyond.

The competition is open to teams of one to three members who have a business idea that could lead to positive change.

Organizations like the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, a Burlington-based nonprofit that provides resources for young startups, make UVM an ideal campus for burgeoning entrepreneurs, said Logan Vaughan, president of UVM’s Entrepreneurship Club.

“I always tell students that now is the time to get started, and Vermont is the place to start,” said Vaughan, who is studying finance and accounting as part of a degree in business administration.

To bolster their research, the Thetford team consulted educators and psychologists, as well as their siblings. Eventually, they honed in on an organization that would offer mentorship schemes, certification courses and summer programming for participants.

In a way, they are already winners. All of the teams in the top five will walk away with a prize. First place winners will receive a full scholarship to UVM, while the second and third place teams will be awarded $5,000, and teams in fourth and fifth place will be awarded $1,000.

“Winning this competition would be a huge help financially — not just for me, but for my family,” said 18-year-old Elie O’Brien, who plans to study nursing at UVM next year.

The Thetford team will be competing against groups from Massachusetts, North Carolina and New Jersey. Their enterprises include an environmentally-friendly, odor-resistant underwear company; a powder-based allergy treatment; a surfboard for people with disabilities; and an initiative that incentivizes restaurants to reduce their food waste using a rewards system.

Last year’s winner was Pippa Scott, then a junior at Killington Mountain School, whose nonprofit, Ride for Mental Health, raised awareness for kids and teens involved in high-intensity sports who were struggling with their mental health.

This year “it was really hard to narrow it down to the final five pitches, but these five more than deserve to be here. They all had a great idea, a compelling pitch, supporting materials, along with a strong team behind them,” Vaughan said.

The teams submitted their initial applications virtually, but on Thursday, the finalists will pitch their ideas to a panel of five student judges, including members of UVM’s Entrepreneurship Club.

“It really comes down to who has the best presentation and who can answer the judges’ questions the best,” Vaughan said.

While winning the challenge would mean a lot for the team behind MIND, they’re happy with how far they’ve come.

“This is something I’d love to keep working on. It’s a learning experience, and whether or not we win, we’ve gained so much. I genuinely believe this program would help people like me — and I think that makes it worth pursuing long-term,” Elie O’Brien said.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.