Maxwell Skidmore addresses the crowd at the JA Free Enterprise Center Dedication Celebration in August 2023

Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain (JA) is proud to announce that Maxwell Skidmore is the 2023 Robin Wise Scholarship recipient. The Robin Wise Scholarship was endowed by a group of JA board members and identifies a standout high school senior who embodies the entrepreneurial spirit.

Maxwell graduated from Northfield High School in May 2023. He attended Business Bound this summer, where his energy, positivity, and ambition were quickly noticed by JA staff and volunteers. Maxwell himself was impressed with what the program had to offer.

“Walking in, I didn’t know what to expect. But I learned a lot of stuff about business that I didn’t know before,” said Maxwell. “I identified myself as someone who was interested in business, but the motivation wasn’t always there. But Business Bound showed me that there was so much more to learn, and gave me that motivation.”

Since then, Maxwell has been involved with JA in a multitude of ways. He participated in the creation of the introduction video for the state-of-the-art Daniels Fund JA Dream Accelerator, was a student ambassador at the Grand Dedication for the JA Free Enterprise Center, and is slated to be an ambassador at the 2024 Colorado Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony in February.

Before even attending Business Bound, Maxwell already had some personal experience as an entrepreneur. He started a meme page when he was 14 after recognizing popular trends, and people would pay him for advertising space on his website. That’s when he found out this was a good way to make money, and expanded on it. That type of drive has inspired Maxwell to explore all of the possibilities the future has to offer.

“I have an idea notebook that when things pop up and I realize I could make money from it, I will write it down,” said Maxwell. “I want to solve a real and meaningful problem and create a product or service that will benefit the community. I want to create something new and genuinely helpful.”

Maxwell is currently a freshman at Metro State University in Denver. He’s looking to maximize his time on campus and utilize the resources and people there to find the next big idea. Without this scholarship, Maxwell was considering not attending college due to finances, but now that he is, he is ready to work hard.

“I feel like I’m doing something right, and I’m working hard,” said Maxwell. “Now that there are other people invested in me, I have more to prove.”