{"id":9502,"date":"2021-02-25T13:38:20","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T18:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=9502"},"modified":"2021-09-22T12:25:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T16:25:45","slug":"alumnus-receives-accreditation-for-business-started-in-elizabethtown-college-entrepreneurship-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2021\/02\/25\/alumnus-receives-accreditation-for-business-started-in-elizabethtown-college-entrepreneurship-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus Receives Accreditation for Business Started in Elizabethtown College Entrepreneurship Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alumnus Niko Antonellos \u201913 recently earned a Preliminary Accreditation from the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE) for his business, Sidekicks Support Services, which he began during his time as a student at Elizabethtown College. The accreditation recognizes Sidekicks as a behavioral service provider dedicated to continuous improvement in applied behavior analysis.<\/p>\n

Antonellos, who received a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in \"\"<\/a>Entrepreneurship, first formed the idea for Sidekicks Support Services for an assignment in Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management Petru Sandu\u2019s entrepreneurship class. After he and his classmates pitched their ideas, the students voted on their favorite business plans. When the entire class raised their hand to vote for Sidekicks, Antonellos knew it could grow into something more.<\/p>\n

Sidekicks Support Services provides personalized, consistent, and comprehensive one-on-one support services for individuals with disabilities and their families. Their main goal is to enable individuals to achieve goals, overcome daily obstacles, enhance social skills, and obtain greater independence. The company provides services for individuals ages four and older, including ABA Therapy, Speech Therapy, Individual Support Services, and Direct Support Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the forefront of our mind, we want to provide quality services that help people grow, whether it\u2019s socially, independently, academically, or behaviorally,\u201d said Antonellos.<\/p>\n

Receiving the BHCOE Accreditation is a significant accomplishment for Antonellos and his business, as it recognizes Sidekicks as a behavioral health provider that excels in the areas of clinical quality, staff qualifications, and promote systems that enhance these areas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019re one of a handful of providers in the state of New Jersey who have that [accreditation],\u201d Antonellos said, \u201cand it\u2019s really a great benchmark to show that we are committed to quality services and committed to onboarding our families in a quality manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonellos is grateful for the encouragement, support, and advice he received from professors in the Business, Occupational Therapy, and Spanish departments, both while starting his business at Etown and after he graduated. After he developed the idea for Sidekicks in Sandu\u2019s class during his senior year, Sandu continued to be a mentor for Antonellos. They continue to stay in touch to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe a lot of our success to him,\u201d Antonellos said. \u201cHe really showed me the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his time at Etown, Antonellos took advantage of all the resources he could find. He said attending lectures and listening to other entrepreneurs sparked his interest in pursuing entrepreneurship as a career. His biggest advice for current students is to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cUtilize what you have at your fingertips at Etown,\u201d he said. \u201cDo what scares you. Get over your fears, talk to people, get outside of the box. You\u2019re going to thank yourself for it, and you\u2019re going to feel like a stronger person.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Sidekicks Support Services, you can visit http:\/\/www.sidekickssupport.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alumnus Niko Antonellos \u201913 recently earned a Preliminary Accreditation from the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE) for his business, Sidekicks Support Services, which he began during his time as a student at Elizabethtown College. The accreditation recognizes Sidekicks as a behavioral service provider dedicated to continuous improvement in applied behavior analysis. Antonellos, who received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":9505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[178,1339],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-9502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-achievements","category-alumni","tag-business","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9519,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9502\/revisions\/9519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}