TechPoint Names S.O.S. Challenge Winners
(photo courtesy of TechPoint)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based TechPoint has unveiled the winners of the Summer Opportunities for Skills Challenge. Twenty-two students will share in the $25,000 prize purse and an opportunity to participate in Elevate Ventures’ Fall 2021 Regional Nexus Pitch Competition.
The event was the culmination of six weeks of work that involved 170 students and recent coding graduates from Eleven Fifty Academy. The challenge’s objective was to create solutions for Indiana communities as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
“Last year’s Challenge proved so popular, we brought it back this year and again were impressed with the level of commitment and energy students brought to the competition,” said Mike Langellier, chief executive officer of Techpoint. “It’s wonderful seeing how this crazy idea born out of a crisis just a year ago has turned into a powerful platform for pre-internship students to develop valuable skills, taste a startup experience, expand their networks, and demonstrate their capabilities and character.”
S.O.S. Challenge participants were asked to devise a solution to current challenges in five categories.
The winners include:
In the Education category, Team 8 created an app called Lighthouse to bridge gaps in communication and learning loss by tracking student data that provides warnings and insights when a student seems to be experiencing learning loss or other struggles.
Members include: Mary Stempky, Ball State University; Dillon Valenti, Purdue University-Fort Wayne; Savreen Kaur and Chris Cardoza, IUPUI; and Logan Franklin, Vincennes University. Coaches: John McDonald, NEXT Studios; Lisa Johnson, Genesys
In the Healthcare category, Team 2 used blockchain technology to create a universal medical identification called UnID that allows users to sync their information across multiple providers and control who has access to what.
Members include: Keegan Briskey, IUPUI; Evan Burge, Wabash College; Isaac Solloway, Indiana University; Upasana Shrestha, Trine University; and Sydney Sauer, The Ohio State University. Coaches: Luis Kuae, Cummins; Xin Yao, Cummins
In the Sports & Entertainment category, Team 4 created Tech Guide, a navigation tool for the 500,000 attendees of the January 2022 College Playoffs in Indianapolis.
Members include: Tyler Metheny, Wabash College; Ashleigh Sincebaugh, Indiana University; Erik Petersen, Valparaiso University; Matthew Hartel, The Ohio University. Coaches: Tim Laplante, OpenText; Mike Seidle, PivotCX
In the Indiana Agriculture category, Team 7 created the Backyard app, which it calls “the Etsy of Produce.” It gives the average gardener a platform to show off their skills while giving small-town farmers an audience to sell their excess vegetable produce.
Members include: Lindsay Newell and Ginger Alford, Eleven Fifty Academy; Prajith Narendran, Indiana University; and Allen Zheng, Purdue University.
In the Sustainable Energy category, Team 1 created Battery Overflow, a website that addresses issues with usage, storage and proper disposal/recycling of used electric vehicle batteries.
Members include: Carl Meyer, Kevin Morton and Sasha Jocius, Purdue University; and Michael High, Wabash College. Coaches: Adam Roark, Atrium; John Casey, Open Text
Each of the 170 participants who completed the challenge received a $500 stipend.