As a student at Mercer University, Melissa Dark learned about the importance of building a strong community. Now she’s doing just that and helping others do the same. 

Dark, a Christianity major who graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2006, is president and CEO of the Fitzgerald-Ben Hill Chamber of Commerce and executive director of Georgia FLEX, an entrepreneurship competition that helps high school students build their own businesses. FLEX stands for Foundational Leadership and Entrepreneur X-Perience. 

She started the program in Fitzgerald after taking the helm at the chamber in 2020, and the contest soon grew to be offered statewide. This year, FLEX will be available in 20 communities, 23 counties and more than 30 high schools. The idea for the program grew from a desire to grow jobs through hometown talent. 

“In the ’90s, lots of manufacturing jobs that we had in our community went overseas. Those big factories shut down, which just devastated small towns across rural Georgia,” Dark said. “We feel like the best way to help our community is for people to start small businesses. So, it is beneficial to us to teach young people how to start small businesses and to go ahead and get them started down that path. 

“Instead of waiting for some big company to come to Fitzgerald, a much more stable growth path is for us to grow our own entrepreneurs who are then going to employ their friends and neighbors. Because these people want to stay in Fitzgerald. They’re not going anywhere. They’re not leaving because it’s cheaper to make something somewhere else.”

The FLEX competition takes place over three rounds. The first round is an open call for high school students to participate. All students need is a desire to start a business and an idea, but if they don’t have an idea, the program will help them come up with one, Dark said. 

After participating in a workshop that teaches students how to write a business plan, they submit their business plans to be judged by local entrepreneurs and bank lenders. The judges select 10 student businesses to move on to the next stage of competition. 

During the second round, students start their businesses. Local leaders mentor the students, and the host communities hold workshops for the students on different aspects of entrepreneurship, such as marketing, business finances and customer service. 

“We have the curriculum for the programming for the workshops, but I don’t Zoom in and teach them,” Dark said. “We think it’s more impactful if local business leaders do it because we want students to connect with their local business leaders. This is a person they now know at a bank, so when they go to open a bank account, they know somebody there.” 

At the end of the second round, the students pitch their businesses to a panel of judges. Three businesses are selected for the third and final stage of the local competition. 

During the third round, students receive training on public speaking and how to pitch their businesses. Students give their final pitch to a panel of judges at an event that is open to the public. First place is awarded $2,500-$5,000, second place receives $1,250-$3,000, and third place gets $750-$1,500. (Each community decides what amount to give.) 

The first place winner from each local competition competes in the state competition, where student entrepreneurs pitch their businesses for a chance to win $10,000. 

“FLEX, through their experience of owning their own business, helps students to understand the work ethic and hustle and skills that they need in the workplace,” Dark said. “It’s not like working for a boss — working for yourself, when you make mistakes or if you don’t use your time wisely, that costs YOU money. You realize how your work and what you do impacts the rest of the business.”

Students who participate in FLEX report feeling more prepared for the workforce by developing responsibility, public speaking, time management, self-confidence, accountability, professional skills and financial literacy through the program, according to the FLEX impact report for 2024. 

In 2024, the program served 189 entrepreneurs, started and supported 79 student-owned businesses, and distributed $84,575 to student-owned businesses, according to the report. 

The 2025 state champion, Addison Hilsman, won for his business Elite Diesel Performance and Accessories in Morgan County. A certified diesel mechanic, he became the preferred dealer for companies to use when installing grill guards on their trucks, Dark said. 

Hilsman planned to use the $10,000 prize money to buy a lift, so he could work on trucks more efficiently. But then he received an opportunity to outfit a large fleet of trucks with grill guards, Dark said. 

“Instead of spending the money on his lift, he was able to go ahead and buy all those grill guards because he had the cash to do this big order, which is going to give him $30,000 to be able to put toward a new shop,” Dark said. “So, he will not only get his new lift, but it will also get him even further down the road.”

Mercer student Chloe Paulk was among the first students to participate in the FLEX program before there was a statewide competition. Her business, Cake It With Chloe, won the local competition in her hometown of Ocilla in 2022. Over the years, Cake It With Chloe has grown from selling homemade cakes to including gluten-free options to now offering gluten-free cake mixes. 

“Melissa is just one of those people who has been a really great mentor because she really sets an example of how I want to be,” said Paulk, a rising senior double-majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship. “She’s been a great mentor on the business side of things. Through the FLEX program, I was able to work with her on my business, and she would give me really great advice on how to grow it and help me get the connections that I needed.”

Paulk, who is now an intern with Georgia FLEX, said Dark encouraged her to go to Mercer. Unbeknownst to her, Dark wrote a recommendation letter for Paulk to receive the Bessie Willingham Tift Scholarship, which made it possible for her to attend the University. Dark also was a Tift Scholar. 

“Mercer was so instrumental in shaping the trajectory of my life,” said Dark, who was known as Melissa Hunter before marrying Mercer class of 2002 alumnus David Dark in 2006. “At Mercer, I had Dr. (Randy) Harshbarger, and he really worked to make sure we were citizens of Macon. We were not just at Mercer. We were going to be good citizens in our community. That made such an impact on me. 

“Whether it’s picking up a paint brush to paint a light pole or being involved with a community organization like Cherry Blossom Festival or helping with policy and things like that, all of those things are important and need to be done, and it’s not for somebody else to do. There aren’t special people that do that. That’s us. We’re the ones that need to do it.” 

She said she brings that philosophy to her work at the chamber and with FLEX, helping people see the impact they can have on in their own communities.  

“My husband and I both are so grateful for our time at Mercer. It really shaped us and formed us in ways that we probably can’t even articulate,” she said.