On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Belmont students competed in the Thomas F. Cone Sr. Center for Entrepreneurship’s Business Pitch Competition The winners of this year’s competition are Javier Castellon Villanueva in first place Jess Finney in second place and Charlotte Harrison in third place The People’s Choice Award went to Alex Becker The pitch competition promotes student business initiatives by allowing them to give a one-minute shark tank-style business pitch to a panel of judges with the first place winner receiving $2,000 third place receiving $500 and People’s Choice Award receiving $250 Each of the winning students will use the prize money to grow their businesses Villanueva wants to use the first-place prize money to advance his business which is an online AI driven program helping guide students through complex subjects like calculus by offering simple yet in-depth solutions to their questions While the program was initially developed as a resource for homeschooled students Villanueva dreams of one day expanding his business to the private school network Second place winner Finney is excited at the prospect of using the money to grow the business she runs with her sister Recognizing that the coffee and tea market is a booming industry in Nashville and also believing chai tea has become detached from its cultural roots her business Chechi’s Chai hopes to reinvigorate zeal for authentic chai in Nashville She dreams of one day opening a brick-and-mortar store which will employ and empower Indian women is looking to use her money to expand her small art design business While her paper products are currently popular in the on-campus store House Of — which is a student-run community-focused retail experience — Harrison hopes to expand her business to local paper goods shops soon Winner of the People’s Choice Award prize Becker wants to expand his brand which is a personal training business for the creative mind He focuses on creative physical and mental well-being and believes that artists should not operate under the mindset that they need to suffer to be successful His work aims to prioritize mental well-being in the creative community Judges included three Belmont alums: Clark Buckner co-founder of Relationary Marketing; Sarah Beth Perry founder of With The Band; and Ryan Reisdorf Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Cone Center and founder of Placemat Belmont faculty and staff applauded student entrepreneurs who were brave enough to pitch their ideas before the crowd calling attention to the diverse range of business ideas represented from online shops to artist management and development security consulting and creative freelancing work “We were blown away by the amazing pitches at our competition today,” said Executive Director of the Cone Center for Entrepreneurship “Our student entrepreneurs were incredibly prepared and poised and shared inspiring business ideas The Cone Center for Entrepreneurship was thrilled to open up a second pitch competition this year due to the growing number of student entrepreneurs applying to pitch We can’t wait to see what these students do next!” This competition was a precursor to the larger business pitch competition that will be held in March Center for Entrepreneurship aims to help all student entrepreneurs regardless of major to exceed in their business plans University Marketing and Communications615-460-6650communication@belmont.edu Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don’t make much sense Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain by the Castellón Provincial Fire Department Consortium the huge forest fire that has been burning for 20 days in the Villanueva de Viver area of Castellon has finally been declared ‘extinguished’ (07:00h.) El Consorci @BombersDipcas dona per extingit l'#IFVillanuevaViver — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) April 11, 2023 the flames affected an estimated 4,700 hectares of great ecological value with a front spanning more than 50km The forest fire that has been burning in the Castellon and Teruel region is slowly being brought under control by the huge number of firefighters who have been battling it for more than one week It was declared to be ‘under control’ this afternoon This does not mean that he flames have been extinguished fully yet though 🔴 BALANCE 19:00 h #IFVillanuevaViver ➡️El director del PMA da el incendio por CONTROLADO.➡️El Incendio ya no tiene llama en el perímetro ni el el interior.➡️ Se han realizado 1 vuelo de reconocimiento y también inspección por tierra para confirmar que no hay reignición➡️Se… pic.twitter.com/xC8v9One1R — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 31, 2023 According to the Castellon Fire Brigade on its Twitter account: “From the PMA of #IFVillanuevaViver the very positive evolution of the fire is confirmed although work continues to review the most sensitive areas of the perimeter 120 ground troops and 7 air assets are maintained” Desde el PMA del #IFVillanuevaViver se confirma la evolución muy positiva del incendio. El perímetro está consolidado aunque se sigue trabajando repasando las zonas más sensibles del mismo. Se mantienen 120 efectivos terrestres y 7 medios aéreos. pic.twitter.com/4GUqndwrdn — Bombers Dipcas (@BombersDipcas) March 31, 2023 As the ferocity of the forest fire in the Castellon and Teruel region does down the residents of some municipalities have been allowed to return to their homes have been informed that it is now safe to go home again They join those from the towns of Higueras explained: “The evolution of the fire has been very favourable over the last 24 hours the UME drones have worked to detect hot spots and we have been able to organise and plan the entire strategy that has been carried out throughout the morning Most of the resources have been concentrated in the hot spots of the three sensitive areas” 🔴 BALANCE 14:30H #IFVillanuevaViver 📌A partir de las 14:00h van a poder volver a sus domicilios los vecinos y vecinas de Arañuel La Artejuela y Torralba del Pinar (114 vecinos en total)📌También se ha acordado que todas las personas que ayer pudieron volver a sus municipios… pic.twitter.com/mLZzgmVBIZ — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 30, 2023 The minister revealed that the three areas with critical points are those located next to Fuente de los Baños the area where the fire started near Montan the fire has burned 4,700 hectares and has a perimeter of more than 50km Around 300 ground troops and 17 aerial resources are working on it The situation has also improved in the Teruel term of San Agustin allowing the Operational Coordination Centre to lower the emergency level there to 0 Although the forecast in Castellon was ‘high risk’ for today and Friday 31 the conditions finally turned out to be more favourable but they eventually ended up becoming gusts of between 15 and 20km/h As a result, only one incident was recorded, a reignition at around 4:30pm in the Fuente la Reina area. According to Andres Balfago, the technical director of the Advanced Command Post, it was quickly extinguished by land and air means, as reported by 20minutos.es The Villanueva de Viver blaze currently has a perimeter of about 50km she added Today’s efforts have been concentrated in the area of ​​the CV-195 Montan-Montanejos area to prevent the fire from advancing towards the Serra d’Espada Natural Park Spectacular footage posted on the Disaster News Telegram channel showed the horrendous blaze burning Fire chiefs are said to be carefully monitoring the situation after a change of wind saw the flames heading towards Fuente La Reina As a result of strong winds fueling the flames three more towns have been evacuated today as the forest fire in Castellon and Teruel advances Inhabitants of Caudiel have also been confined to their homes due to the abundance of smoke produced by the blaze explained that 80 people had evacuated from Torralba Pavies and Figueres and confirmed that the fire had not yet reached the Serra d’Espada Natural Park More resources have been deployed to the region as reported by the Ministry of the Environment on its Twitter account Efectivos del 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨 refuerzan a las CCAA contra los incendios:🔸 C. Valenciana #IFVillanuevaViver🔸 Cantabria #IFVegaDeLiebana🔸 Asturias #IFSobrescobio 4⃣✈️ Aviones anfibios1⃣🛫 Avión de Coord. y Obvs.3⃣🚁 Helicópteros3⃣👨🏼‍🚒 #BRIFpic.twitter.com/BFw16a6K2q — Transición Ecológica y Reto Demográfico (@mitecogob) March 27, 2023 Firefighters from the Castellon Provincial Consortium aided by foresters from the Valencian Generalitat have been working tirelessly from the outset to extinguish this fire the Government delegate in the Valencian Community gave an update to the press just after 1pm this afternoon which was posted on the Emergencies 112CV Twitter profile 🔴 BALANCE 13 H #IFVillanuevaViver: ➡️En este momento los recursos terrestres y aéreos se concentran a lo largo del perímetro del barranco.➡️La complejidad de la orografía impide que los recursos terrestres de los efectivos puedan introducirse en ese barranco. ➡️Se va a… pic.twitter.com/kiLQhceZtn — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 26, 2023 An image released earlier today by the Montanejos Town Council on its Twitter page confirmed that the front of the Villanueva de Viver fire is getting ever closer to the urban area An advisory notice was also posted online by the Council — Ayuntamiento Montanejos (@AMontanejos) March 26, 2023 Información del Ayuntamiento de #Montanejos sobre #IFVillanuevaViver @bombersdipcas @112cv pic.twitter.com/02vpQdk6ml — Ayuntamiento Montanejos (@AMontanejos) March 26, 2023 the Guardia Civil has taken statements from four individuals in connection with the forest fire that is currently burning in Castellón and Teruel she confirmed that the ‘human factor’ was responsible for the origin of the blaze Apparently ‘some maintenance work’ was being carried out in the area at the time the fire broke out although she refused to specify whether the four were municipal workers The forest fire that is currently raging in Castellon and Teruel is said to be burning out of control along a 40km perimeter. It has reportedly already devoured more than 4,000 hectares as it continues to spread. Around 1,500 residents have been evacuated from their homes as a precaution, as reported by 20minutos.es This information was revealed by Gabriela Bravo, the Minister of Justice and the Interior, during her press briefing late last night, Friday, March 24, held at the Advanced Command Post, in Barracas The presidents of the Valencian and Aragonese governments the technical director of extinguishing at the Advanced Command Post confirmed that: “a medium-long term strategy is planned if the fire worsens” He explained that: “heavy ravines are feeding the fire which makes it difficult to deploy resources around the perimeter” 🚁 El nostre helicòpter V-990, un BELL 412, hui treballant en tasques d'extinció. Tot i que normalment el soleu veure en rescats, l'helicòpter de @BombersValencia està operatiu per a tot tipus d’escenaris, com el de hui, l’extinció en incendis forestals. #IFPicassent pic.twitter.com/Vl9l5nCjxk — Bombers Consorci VLC (@BombersValencia) March 25, 2023 — Bombers Consorci VLC (@BombersValencia) March 25, 2023 The Civil Guard is said to be investigating four individuals in connection with the huge forest fire that is currently blazing in the Castellon municipality of Villanueva de Viver, according to abc.es. The four suspects are thought to have been operating a brushcutter machine that was working on cleaning tasks in Villanueva de Viver Sparks from the machine could have ignited the fire according to the first investigations by the force the Minister of Justice and the Interior of the autonomous administration of the Generalitat revealed that at least 4,000 hectares are estimated to have been devastated by the flames She said that firefighters will continue to work through the night with reinforcements expected to arrive in the morning 🔥@gabrielabravo_s atiende a los medios para informar de la última hora del #IFVillanuevaViver 👉4.000 hectáreas afectadas👉Durante la noche, seguirán trabajando todos los medios terrestres.👉Mañana a primera hora medios aéreos👉Se esperan más refuerzos para frenar el avance pic.twitter.com/uJOdMermSr — GVA Justicia e Interior (@GVAjusticia) March 24, 2023 The Civil Guard has reported evacuating nearly 1,800 people from eight different towns in the area Imágenes resumen del trabajo que Rufo el dispositivo de extinción está realizando durante toda la jornada en el #IFVillanuevaViver pic.twitter.com/0yo70bJcLN — Bombers Dipcas (@BombersDipcas) March 24, 2023 🔥🔥A veces un fuego puede contribuir a extinguir otro fuego 📸Nuestras unidades de Segorbe y Alcalá realizando un contrafuego en la carretera de Fuente La Reina.#IFVillanuevaViver #BombersForestalsGVA #LosDeAmarillo pic.twitter.com/hbaZt1Y0E8 — Servei Bomber(e)s Forestals GVA (@GVAbforestals) March 24, 2023 the Minister of Justice and the Interior of the autonomous administration of the Generalitat the Villanueva de Viver forest fire continues to spread uncontrolled It has already destroyed an estimated 3,500 hectares and currently affects a radius of 30km the Bravo indicated that there are about 500 people working about a hundred more than there were at midday today Speaking to reporters earlier today, she told them: ” More than 400 professionals continue to work on #IFVillanuevaViver which has affected more than 3,000 hectares We are still very aware of the weather forecast that could activate the fire this afternoon Más de 400 profesionales siguen trabajando en el #IFVillanuevaViver, que ha afectado a más de 3.000 hectáreas. Seguimos muy pendientes de la previsión meteorológica que puede activar el fuego esta tarde. Mucha precaución. pic.twitter.com/0EHSJO3DPQ — Gabriela Bravo (@gabrielabravo_s) March 24, 2023 Fire crews battled the huge blaze throughout the night as can be seen in posts on social media from the various emergency services involved in the operation — Bombers Dipcas (@BombersDipcas) March 24, 2023 📸🌙Imatges nocturnes de la nostra actuació a l'#IFVillanuevaViver Durant tota la nit hem estat realitzant treballs d'extinció, mitjançant atacs directes i foc tècnic.#BombersForestalsGVA #LosDeAmarillo pic.twitter.com/3mQSlYVpjV — Servei Bomber(e)s Forestals GVA (@GVAbforestals) March 24, 2023 #IFVillanuevaViver 🚁Helicóptero @GVA112 realiza una carga con bambi en un depósito de incendios los medios aéreos de la Generalitat que trabajan en la extinción han realizado 221 descargas desde su inicio A estas descargas hay que sumarle también las… pic.twitter.com/WlhJAJtpqW — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 24, 2023 As reported by Emergencies 112CV this evening another two towns have been evacuated as a result of the large fire that is burning in the Castellon municipality of Villanueva de Viver it wrote: “The WFP orders the eviction of the towns of Montan and Arañuel 2 buses are sent to Montan and 2 to Arañuel One of the buses will distribute people from the Montan nursing home Red Cross will set up a shelter in Onda to receive the evicted from Arañuel” (23:23h) Actualización #IFVillanuevaViver.Desde el PMA se ordena el desalojo de las poblaciones de Montán y Arañuel Se envían 2 autobuses a Montán y 2 a Arañuel Uno de los autobuses distribuirá a las personas de la residencia de personas mayores de Montán — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 23, 2023 the President of the Generalitat commented: “It was a very voracious fire at the beginning and it has had a very powerful action that has definitely meant that in a short time we are talking about 800 to 1000 hectares of the perimeter” He tweeted @ximopuig : “Difficult moments. The emergency teams will continue working all night against the Alto Mijares fire. Tomorrow they will be joined by 18 aerial means. We hope that the evicted residents can return to their homes as soon as possible. The most important thing: human lives” (18:55h) 🏥CICU @GVAsanitat ha movilizado un hospital de campaña 🏠@CruzRojaCV está gestionando la habilitación de un albergue en Segorbe con capacidad para 600 personas 🚌@GVAterritori ha movilizado un autobús para colaborar en el desalojo de Montanejos.#IFVillanuevaViver — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 23, 2023 (23:30h) 🎞️Video-resumen de la jornada de hoy en el #IFVillanuevaViver pic.twitter.com/5LueHKAGeW — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 23, 2023 (21:30h) Actualización de medios trabajando en el #IFVillanuevaViver: ➡️10 unidades de @GVAbforestals ➡️11 autobombas➡️10 dotaciones de @BombersDipcas ➡️1 pelotón de la @UMEgob ➡️2 ambulancias SAMU y 1 SVB➡️3 agentes medioambientales➡️PMA+SatCom➡️1 unidad de prevención de… — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 23, 2023 A huge forest fire that broke out in the Castellon municipality of Villanueva de Viver earlier this afternoon, Thursday, March 23, has already forced the evacuation of several towns, as reported by levante-emv.com The flames are said to be spreading rapidly with firefighters from the Castellon Provincial Consortium in attendance They have been joined by forestry personnel from the Valencian Generalitat Due to the proximity of the flames and the virulence of the fire the residents of several municipalities have been instructed to leave their homes as a precaution a total of fifteen aerial means were battling the flames from above 10 units of the Generalitat’s forest firefighters were in action 3 crews from the Castello Provincial Firefighters Consortium the UME has deployed 74 soldiers and 19 military vehicles 🔥Es declara un incendi forestal a Villanueva de Viver a Castelló, #IFVillanuevaViver 🚒🚁Mobilitzat despatx automàtic amb mitjà aeri, dos autobombes i tres unitats de @GVAbforestals, una d'elles helitransportada, una dotació de @BombersDipcas — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 23, 2023 According to the latest data provided by the Generalitat Valenciana the area burned by the fire has already reached 600 hectares in just three hours Más fotos del #IFVillanuevaViver 📸15:00 pic.twitter.com/0H4sz4Up3s — Óscar. (@OscarBForestal) March 23, 2023 🔥Vista del #IFVillanuevaViver desde el PMA 💪¡Estamos trabajando en su extinción!#BombersForestalsGVA #LosDeAmarillo pic.twitter.com/hZ4lyRhCPw — Servei Bomber(e)s Forestals GVA (@GVAbforestals) March 23, 2023 📸Imágenes aéreas del #IFVillanuevaViver, en el que estamos trabajando ahora mismo. pic.twitter.com/0wJc0tJ7g9 — Servei Bomber(e)s Forestals GVA (@GVAbforestals) March 23, 2023 Emergencies 112CV tweeted that a sixth town had been evacuated by order of the WFP director of the Villanueva de Viver Forest Fire department (18:16h) Se procede a desalojar Montanejos, por indicación del director del PMA del #IFVillanuevaViver 📍Actualización de municipios desalojados: ➡️Fuente la Reina➡️Los Calpes➡️Los Cantos➡️La Monzona➡️Puebla de Arenoso➡️Montanejos — Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) March 23, 2023 Tomorrow’s weather forecast is certainly not going to help with extinguishing the blaze the heat and lack of humidity have triggered the risk of more forest fires in the interior of the provinces of Castellon and Valencia ___________________________________________________________ Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check  The Euro Weekly News  website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on  Facebook  and  Instagram Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain by delivering news with a social conscience we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP) Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall) All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE Download our media pack in either English or Spanish in the Castellón province of eastern Spain The first alarm call was made at 12.50pm on Thursday warning of the fire in the inland area of the province In about seven hours the flames devastated nearly 1,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of several villages Residents had to suddenly flee their homes and the advance of the (19:03h) Se retiran todos los medios aéreos del #IFVillanuevaViver pic.twitter.com/YW0rsHr48e flames caused several roads to be closed to traffic president of the Valencian regional government went to the advanced command post to follow the urgently deployed fire-fighting operation hoping that the fire can be stabilised this Friday The Director General of the Interior of the regional government reported that the evolution of the fire has been "very violent" and its propagation capacity to spread is high The fire fighting teams have not yet been able to completely surround the wildfire There have already been more than 1,000 hectares burned since the fire started Almenar said that the change in the wind is making the extinction tasks problematic and that it is a difficult time despite the amount of both air and ground teams that are working on the extinction Almenar stressed that the priority is people hence the eviction of the municipalities and the setting up of the Segorbe sports centre Buses have also been made available for the safest transfer it has become a Civil Protection emergency," he said The first municipality to be evacuated was Fuente la Reina the district of La Alquería de Montanejos and La Artejuela several nuclei of Villanueva de Viver have been evacuated the municipality of Olba and several rural areas have been evacuated the emergency services reported that two more areas have been evacuated Two buses were sent to each of the municipalities One of the buses will distribute people from the Montán nursing home will set up a shelter in Onda to receive those displaced from Arañuel The Castellón fire officials report that in addition to the changing wind there are other factors that are making the extinction work difficult such as the orography and the dry forest mass due to the lack of rain in the area Spain’s state weather agency (Aemet) has reported that the weather conditions in the area of ​​the fire are "unfavourable" for so early in the year leading to circumstances that "have led to the rapid spread" of the fire Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados