Newport High School junior Amrita Ram was one of six teenage tycoons to compete this week in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Saunders Scholars Competition in Washington, D.C.

In May, Ram was the winner of the Bellevue Chamber’s YEA! investor panel. She was a member of the first class of young entrepreneurs organized by the Chamber.

Ram is the CEO of Fresh Steps, a company developing piezoelectric floor tiles. Piezoelectric materials produce an electric charge when pressure is applied. In theory, a high-traffic building with piezoelectric flooring could be powered by the people walking inside.

The junior’s win in Bellevue took her to Frisco, Texas for the Western Regional YEA! semifinals. Her victory there put her ahead of hundreds of competitors to become one of the half-dozen finalists in the nation’s capital.

The first class of the Bellevue Young Entrepreneurs Academy, made up of 22 students in grades 6-12 in the Bellevue School District, will graduate June 20 during a ceremony concluding the Eastside Leadership Conference.