Communication with community partner: Student teams are expected to communicate regularly with their community partners. They must meet at least twice in-person — once to discuss the nature and background of their problem and once to discuss their first draft of their solution. All other communication can be done via electronic methods or via phone calls if the community partner prefers. (Note: during Covid-19 epidemic, all communication should be electronic.) The community partner will serve as mentor and advisor to the team and it is in the team’s best interest to utilize the community partner’s wisdom as effectively as possible. For example, the community partner can provide connections to other community members with insight into the problem and will be a valuable resource to the team. Moreover, the community partner has the power to veto a solution provided by the team if he/she has serious concerns about the solution’s viability or social impact.
Solution Development: This solution should be innovative in nature, but more importantly, it should be wise, responsible, and doable. Solution complexity will likely depend on the nature of the problem that the team is addressing, but strong solutions will seek to address the problem in the most effective manner possible.
Budget Creation: Teams must submit an estimated budget for their project. This budget should, as accurately as possible, estimate costs for supplies, implementation, resources, etc. Good budgeting is essential to solution viability.
The Pitch: Pitches will be ten minutes in length and should clearly and concisely outline the challenge and solution (both immediate and long term/systemic). Pitches should be engaging and should “sell” the judges and audience that their solution should win implementation funding. Students pitching the idea are welcome to use any props that they deem helpful to their presentation. Not all team members must pitch on stage, but at least one team member must do the presentation. Community partners may be part of the pitch if they so choose. The judges will ask questions to further clarify the solution and may offer constructive feedback. Audience’s engagement and excitement for the solution may also be taken into account in the final results, so creating an engaging pitch is essential to the process. Pitch coaching sessions will be provided for all participants to help teams construct their pitch.
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