INNOVATION CHALLENGE
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Elms College Magazine
It’s Not Just for Shark Tank Anymore The first year of college can be a challenge for most students. In addition to the rigors of their academic studies, new students need to become acclimated to the new environment, new friends, new class structure. The College of Our Lady of Elms, like many colleges, answers these challenges with the First-Year Seminar. The seminar is designed with small classes so instructors can better know the students. Courses, activities, and a shared Common Read book are specially selected, connected by a theme taken from Catholic Social Teaching to help students navigate all the new experiences of becoming college students and adults. This year’s seminar theme was a “Call to Family, Community, and Participation”. But Elms knows it is not enough to have a first-year Common Read or engaging events. The college must give students the tools to not only succeed but excel. To accomplished this, students need to meet challenges in innovative ways. That is why all first-year students take part in the Innovative Challenge, a unique feature of Elms’ undergraduate experience. This last fall 185 first-year students participated in the Challenge. Designed to develop a handson experience that enhances critical thinking, teamwork, problem-solving, field-research skills, as well as many other soft skills that are sought after in the real-world workplace, this challenge delivers much more to the students. Each team developed a design in order to enhance their community awareness. The Challenge also pushes the students to work as a team to analyze, observe, and test their product within an aggressive schedule. Beginning Friday afternoon and ending Sunday evening, these students work together to collaborate, brainstorm, and conceptualize a unique idea. “This challenging task is also a lot of fun,” Amanda Garcia, Associate Professor of Accounting & Finance explains, “because last year we held the Innovation Challenge online, this year was the first time all first-year students have been able to participate live.”
