By the time Jessica Cervantes graduated from high school, she was well on her way to becoming an entrepreneur with an innovative product: Popsy Cakes, or cupcakes on a stick.

It all started when she enrolled in the business academy at John A. Ferguson High School in Miami, Fla., and began taking the entrepreneurship course offered by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. That course led her to the OppenheimerFunds/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge 2008. In October 2008, she beat out 25,000 students nationwide to win the contest and a $10,000 prize.

Cervantes is among the teens chronicled in the documentary film Ten9Eight, which follows 35 of last year's student contestants on their journey to the finals of the 2008 Challenge. The film's release will be a centerpiece of Global Entrepreneurship Week on Nov. 16-22.

The grand winner for 2009, named this month, is Kalief Rollins of Carson, Calif. His Phree Kountry Clothing sells custom T-shirts.

Cervantes gives high marks to the NFTE program, which targets students in low-income communities. "It was very hands on, and I really liked that," she says. "From the very beginning, they give you a template for a PowerPoint presentation, which is your business profile. While you're creating your own business, they're teaching you the next step is this, this is how you do it, and then you apply it to your own business."

Alice Horn, executive director of NFTE South Florida, says Cervantes' enthusiasm is typical. "I just love the impact this has on the kids," she says. "In this day and age, in this day of standardized testing, our students need to see, feel and touch the real world. There's no better way to do that than entrepreneurship.

"NFTE connects the real world of business to academics. Young people who did not think they were going to college suddenly understand that higher education is important."

For Cervantes, the hardest part was making a presentation to the judges in the annual NFTE competition. "I had never presented in front of so many people before, and I thought if I ever did that, I would die." Cervantes says she not only conquered her fear, but she learned skills she's going to use the rest of her life. "I learned so many communication skills: how to not be nervous in front of other people, how to speak and how to sell your product, how to make people interested in your business."

Horn praises Cervantes for her polished presentation. "She just blew the judges away with her poise and her polish and her mastery of the numbers and her sense of humor. She's an outstanding example of what the program can do," Horn says.

Cervantes also showed a bit of audacity. "At one point," Horn says, "the judges asked her about her recipe. She said, 'Well, I couldn't give you that, could I? That would be a trade secret.' "

Josephine Kling, one of the judges in the contest, echoes Horn's observations. "She had that spark in her eye," Kling, CEO of Seasite.com, remembers. "She'd researched it and tested her recipe so thoroughly. She was poised in her presentation. She was able to command the room and seemed to be communicating well. She anticipated the questions we asked. And she had something different in the marketplace."

The result was not just $10,000 for Cervantes, but pro bono services, as well. A web design firm, Pumpkinfish, designed a logo and created Cervantes' website without charge (she's now revising the site with the help of a fellow student entrepreneur). In addition, the law firm of Adorno and Yoss donated a patent for the one-of-a-kind treats. "That's one of the things I tell students; NFTE not only teaches you, it helps you," Cervantes says. "It puts you in contact with people, and it's a great networking experience."

In fact, says Cervantes, "Networking is the best perk from being an entrepreneur." Her mentor is Christina Staalstrom Buppert, co-owner of Bawls Guarana, an energy drink company. Buppert offers advice on fliers, invites Cervantes to lunch to discuss business concerns, and even buys cupcakes so she and Cervantes can do taste tests together.

Cervantes says she knew from the start that she wanted a business that had something to do with baking and with children. "I've always loved baking because, ever since I was a child, my grandmother and I would always bake together." When she decided on cupcakes, "I knew I had to create a product that would still be as delicious as a cupcake, but I would have to make it a little better, make my company stand out by creating a new product, something different." When she watched her cousin eat a cupcake and realized how messy the confection could be, she had a brainstorm. A cupcake on a stick would be easier to eat, she thought. Better yet would be a cupcake on an edible cookie stick. And that's how Popsy Cakes--a play on the word "popsicle"--were born.

It wasn't easy creating a cupcake on a stick, Cervantes says now. "I came into a business thinking, 'Oh, how fun--cupcakes, yay, yummy.' And then when it came down to creating it, I realized how much work it really took."

She had to modify a regular cupcake recipe so it would be sturdy enough to stay on a stick. "It's not quite a cupcake," she says. "The frosting is different and, although it's moist, the texture is a little harder in order to be held up by the cookie stick."

The process involved a lot of trial and error, she says, adding that her earliest experiments were inedible. "The first Popsy Cake I tried, I couldn't swallow it, it was so bad. It took several months to create a cupcake that would work," she says.

"I'm still working on it," she says. "It's not like the product is completely finished."

Cervantes says her biggest challenge continues to be time management. "It's crazy. In high school I thought that it was overwhelming." Now that she's a full-time student at Miami-Dade Honors College, it's even worse.

She spends Thursdays baking weekend orders. Bill Hansen Catering is letting her use the company's commercial kitchen. She says her largest order to date was 400 Popsy Cakes for an event. More typically, she fulfills orders for several dozen cupcakes. Still, the profit she's made to date has paid for a lot of schoolbooks. "I can't dedicate myself fully to it. I don't have a location yet. I haven't quite established myself. It's a work in progress," she says.

College is Cervantes' top priority now. "When I'm finished with my degree, maybe I'll take over the business and run it full time," she says. "I do have hopes of maintaining the business or at least doing the licensing option so that somebody else can manufacture it for me."

She has her sights set on becoming a corporate lawyer, but she hasn't ruled out pursuing the cupcake business full time. "Hopefully I can do both," she says.

Her advice for other teens who might want to become entrepreneurs:

"Don't be shy, and take advantage of all the resources. You have to be out there; you can't just wait for someone to come to you. You have to go after them and believe that you will be successful one day."

Cervantes has taken the initiative wherever she can.Horn, of NFTE, says she offered to provide an introduction to the law firm that developed Cervantes' patent. "It was taking me a few days. Jessica couldn't wait. She called this top attorney herself. That's the kind of kid that she is."

For more about NFTE, read "Teen Entrepreneurship Program Delivers."