The Richmond Senior team transformed an old classroom into a welcoming space for mentees and mentors to work together to prepare for end-of-grade tests and complete other homework assignments. The space houses technology for students to use as they study together. The students from UNC-Greensboro connected ninth graders with fifth graders for an eight-year mentor-mentee relationship.
Watch this short video to see the progress that these teams have made.
Past Winners and Results
The 2012 Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation challenged college and high school students to work collaboratively and come up with an innovative idea to increase North Carolina’s high school graduation rate. Nearly 70 teams submitted applications, five teams in each age category were selected as finalists, and two teams were awarded the $5,000 grand prize at the Emerging Issues Forum in February. After more than 12,000 votes were cast, the 2012 year’s winners were “Studio Lounge” from Richmond Senior High School and “LinkedUp” from UNC-Greensboro.
2011 Results
The 2011 Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation challenge college students to work collaboratively and come up with an innovative idea to address/decrease childhood obesity in North Carolina.
There were 24 teams that submitted applications, and one award. With more than 4,100 votes were cast the winning team was from University of Chapel Hill (UNC) for “Sqord.”
The winning team from UNC used their award as seed money to start their own company, Sqord.
The students paired with Texas Instruments to develop a pilot for their product, an incentive-based game sparking kids’ exercise using wrist-worn accelerometers. They merged toy technology with a computerized activity tracker to get children to exercise. Using game technology and a rewards system, children learn the benefits of exercise through an entertaining interface.
The program is currently in its second pilot, and Sqord recently won the Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Innovations Challenge. They received $20,000 for product development.
Learn more about Sqord here.
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