By Zach Spicer
Having been a hunter for nearly 10 years, Isaiah Sitterding said the weather conditions aren’t always favorable.
He thought it would be nice to have an insulated hunting blind, a sheltered structure that conceals hunters from wildlife and allows them to observe and hunt without being detected.
As he and one of his business management classmates, Jack Pace, were trying to figure out a good business plan for Maverick Challenge Jackson County, a few possibilities arose.
An excavation business focused on septic was one. Welding was another. Customized insulated hunting blinds was the third option.
The third one was the charm.
“The hunting blinds and the outdoor production was what really set us along,” Sitterding said. “We thought of this one day, and it took off.”
Their business plan for S & P Outdoor Productions was one of 10 finalists for the high school business planning competition.
The day after oral presentations March 5, Sitterding and Pace learned they were selected by the judges as the winners.
The Brownstown Central High School juniors received $3,000 to put toward their business.
“There were a lot of ideas running through our head, and then this was the final one, and it ended up being the best one we could think of,” Sitterding said.
“It really just came to us one night, and we said we’re going to take this as far as we can. When I saw that we won $3,000, I was like, ‘All right, we’re doing this now,’” Pace said, smiling.
New this year, the Maverick Challenge winner was among the finalists for the SPARK Tank competition March 27. This was the second year for that contest, which is part of the Jackson County Chamber’s SPARK initiative.
Now, Sitterding and Pace have added fishing structures to their product line, and they are pursuing an LLC for their business.
“Something that I’ve gone by this whole thing — we both have — is my grandpa told me, ‘If you do somebody a good job, they’ll tell a couple people, and if you do somebody a bad job, they’ll tell everybody,’” Sitterding said. “That’s kind of driven us to do a good job for everybody. It’s kind of our driving off this.”
The teens became close friends while playing football their freshman year, and since then, they have tried to align their school schedules.
At the beginning of this school year, they chose to take Luke Cobb’s business management class. One of the requirements is entering the Maverick Challenge.
“We had heard about people doing it,” Sitterding said. “Bryce Peak had done it, Luke Imlay had done it and they both were successful, and it’s kind of like, ‘Well, why not do it?’ It’s a fun class.”
Imlay and Peak won the county competition in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
“Especially having a friend that won it the year before and we more or less thought of it together, we were like, ‘We have good ideas, and we can win some money doing it,’” Pace said. “We both entered into the class together, and we’ve stuck together through it and went through some ideas, and this is the one we ended with.”
After the duo picked their project, they put together a written plan and a video, which ultimately landed them in the top 10.
Pace took a shop class his sophomore year and gained knowledge of building, so he drew up the plans to construct their first hunting blind.
“I brought the knowledge to it, you could say,” Pace said. “In the sense of building, (Sitterding) took a lot of charge in doing that, and I was on the computer side of things and drawing up, telling him what he needed to do, and he ended up doing it.”
They put nearly 35 hours into the hunting blind.
“We each knew what we needed to do to make it happen, and we just kind of fell into our role, and it worked. It’s been fun,” Sitterding said.
He credited some other people in helping make the first hunting blind possible. His stepdad, Steve Cissna, funded it, Roger Bane shared building knowledge, Cobb supported their efforts and Ryan Kemp was their Maverick Challenge mentor.
The hunting blind is made of treated lumber, stands 6½ feet tall on the short side and 8 feet tall on the tall side and weighs nearly 2,000 pounds.
What makes their hunting blind unique? It’s insulated with spray foam and can be customized.
“We’re making a high-quality product … with a reasonable price tag. We’ll do anything that anybody wants for them, so that’s a big thing,” Sitterding said.
“I’d say what gives us the edge is we take a lot of pride in quality, and we love to satisfy customers,” Pace said. “We will do anything they ask and we’ll give you a reasonable price for it and we try our hardest to make it happen is really what sets us above anybody else.”
A customer has ordered a second hunting blind, so that’s next on their to-do list.
Sitterding and Pace also came up with a second product, fish structures.
“If you have a pond and you have to fish in it and you want to try to raise an ecosystem, those little fish, they need somewhere to hide from those larger fish because if they don’t hide, you’re never going to have good fishing in there,” Pace said.
“What these (structures) do is they create a shelter and little places for the small fish to hide from the bigger fish,” he said. “It just gives them a home. That’s really all it does.”
Next for S & P Outdoor Productions: They need more inventory and tools, and they have discussed expanding services, including tree stand installation.
“It still all boils down to customer satisfaction,” Pace said. “Even if they just come up to us with an idea, we’re going to tell if it’s feasible, and we’re going to do our best to make it as perfect as we can.”
Right now, this is considered a side hustle for the teens. While they may not do it for a living beyond high school, it’s something they could always do on the side.
Sitterding plans to pursue farming or construction, and Pace wants to study civil engineering or accounting at Purdue University and raise cattle.
“I don’t think either one of us really wants to do hunting blinds or outdoor productions for a living,” Sitterding said. “It will be something we could have around and maybe hand off to our kids one day, let them take charge on it if they wanted it.”
2025 Maverick Challenge Jackson County
Winners: Isaiah Sitterding and Jack Pace, Brownstown Central High School, S & P Outdoor Productions ($3,000)
Olivia Wilp, Seymour High School, Rock and Roll Rink ($2,500)
Michael Brooks, Seymour High School, Infinity Lead ($450)
Presley Hampton, Brownstown Central High School, Next Level Stylist ($450)
Bryan Jaime, Seymour High School, Pal’ Mundo Entero ($100)
Andrea Heideman, Seymour High School, Easy Life ($100)
Mikayla McCory, Medora High School, Vest Friends ($100)
Jayda Clodfelder, Brownstown Central High School, Jay’s Designs ($100)
Caleb Walton, Brownstown Central High School, Caleb’s Cases ($100)
Mallory Applegate, Seymour High School, Uniquely Me Pottery ($100)
Sponsors: Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., Jackson County Chamber, Brownstown Ewing Main Street, Seymour Main Street
Funding partner: JCBank
