ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Winthrop University has partnered with the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation (RHEDC) to launch Student-Made Rock Hill items, which is a program to support and engage student-creators and small business owners at the university.
The partnership will not only allow students to take advantage of the small business resources provided by RHEDC, but it will include online sales and the sale of student items at the Hickory Post on Main Street in downtown Rock Hill.
Student-Made Rock Hill is part of a growing network of more than 15 universities that have implemented this program. The program was co-founded by Elon University graduates Lindsay Reeth and Ryan McElhinney in 2017 while they were students. Their mission remains the same— to help student entrepreneurs, many of whom do not have formal business training, gain confidence in their skills, and grow their customer base on campus and beyond.
Student-Made Rock Hill is the first to pair a municipality in partnership with a university, Reeth said.
The project received $18,000 in grant money as one of the 13 recipients of the 2025 Relentless Challenge and StimulateSC Grant by the South Carolina Department of Commerce.
“South Carolina is home to a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and innovators, which we are proud to continue investing in,” said Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III. “This year’s Relentless Challenge and StimulateSC grant recipients will further grow our state’s innovation and business development ecosystems, and we look forward to the impact these 13 projects will have across South Carolina in the years ahead.”
PN Saksena, dean of Winthrop’s College of Business and Technology, said he hopes students across the campus will take advantage of this project. An educational element of Student-Made is that students not only provide the items, but the marketplace itself is run by students, too. A team of seven student-managers will take the lead in operating things behind the scenes, running everything from social media to the website curation to event planning, said Saksena, who will help with the project initially before turning it over to a faculty member.
To date, four of the seven managers have been hired.
Together, this team will work in a start-up company environment to grow and scale the marketplace. The positions are currently unpaid, but students can often utilize their time and experience in these roles to count for internship or class credit. Any students interested can apply here.
Here are the details:
The online shop opened for business on March 12.
The first pop-up market will be held March 15 from noon to 7 p.m. at the St. Patrick’s
Day Festival in downtown Rock Hill.
A soft launch at the retail store will happen on April 15.
Other pop ups are set for July 4 at the Red, White and Boom Festival in downtown Rock
Hill and on Sept. 27 during Fall Fest at Winthrop.
Items also will be available at the Rock Hill Old Town Market throughout the summer.
Follow @studentmade_rockhill to learn more about the program, see the businesses that are featured and meet the students who are involved.
For more information, contact Student-Made Co-Founder Lindsay Reeth at lindsay@studentmadestore.com or Eduardo.Venegas@cityofrockhill.com.
