From left, Leigh Wallace, SRTC vice president for student affairs, poses with Ben Huntzinger, founder of Spartan Wheel Chariots, and Chris Clark, president & CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, after Huntzinger, an SRTC student from Cairo, placed second in the InVenture Prize competition sponsored by the Georgia chamber. Huntzinger also won the People’s Choice Award with his invention, a wheelchair for outdoorsmen.

ATLANTA — A Southern Regional Technical College student placed second in the recent InVenture Prize competition in Atlanta and was named the People’s Choice Award winner.

Ben Huntzinger, of Cairo, is building a rugged outdoor wheelchair designed to make an active outdoor lifestyle more accessible for wheelchair users.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce hosted its inaugural Georgia InVenture Prize competition in Atlanta April 3-4, and it was aired live by Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The Georgia InVenture Prize highlights the state’s innovation ecosystem and its high potential, ambitious and growth-oriented student entrepreneurs, according to a press release from the chamber.

Sixteen universities and three technical colleges were represented by teams of innovators. Each team presented their unique business solution before a distinguished panel of 20 preliminary judges. After the initial round, five student teams were selected to advance to the live televised final round. The finalist teams hailed from Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Fort Valley State, North Georgia University and Southern Regional Technical College.

Huntzinger, a one-person team, calls his business Spartan Wheel Chariots. His total prize winnings included consultations with high-level business advisors and a cash prize totaling $25,000. He plans to invest all of the winnings into his dream of building wheelchairs that are durable, easily attainable and affordable.

Huntzinger’s passion for his mission placed him in a position of prominence early in the competition, even among his fellow competitors.  

“I decided a while back that if I was going to have access to the life I wanted, I was going to have to build it from scratch,” said Huntzinger, a paraplegic. “After years of trial and error, and lots of being told no, I developed a wheelchair that would be tough enough to handle the challenges that my lifestyle would demand of it.

“I went back to school at Southern Regional Technical College to learn better ways to build my wheelchair,” he said. “Today, I am able produce affordable and custom off-road wheelchairs that give wheelchair users more than just a new set of wheels. I am able to give them a lifestyle of self-reliance, confidence, and adventure.”

SRTC President Craig Wentworth said, “As a student, Mr. Huntzinger is a shining example of what makes technical education unique and important. As a college, we are honored by his choice to start here. It is our hope that his achievement will encourage other technical college students across the state to think bigger and pursue their own exciting goals.”

The first place winner of the Georgia InVenture Prize was Extendo Socket from Fort Valley State University. Extendo Socket is an extension cord that is built into the outlet socket and can retract back into the outlet when not being used.