Innovation Challenge

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.”

The Innovation Challenge is an immersive learning experience that not only teaches how to solve problems and think critically, but how to learn from your teammates and others. Innovation also comes from the ability to listen and learn from a diverse and inclusive community that all have added skills and knowledge. Business professionals from the community collaborate with the students as mentors. The role of the Innovation Challenge mentor is to help students think critically and provide feedback on ideas by asking questions related to feasibility, business issues, general business-related topics. Innovation cannot happen without making a change and these professionals stretch the students’ concepts. Sometimes they learn that the idea you start with may not be the solution you end with. Next, the students put on their creative hats and learn how to present their ideas visually and write their pitch for the judges. The judges who are community leaders and alumni, give the added skill set to positively process feedback and constructive criticism. Past judges have included Ryan Stelzer, co-founder of Strategy of Mind; Al Kasper, president/CEO at Savage Sports Corp.; and John Vieau, mayor of Chicopee. This year, Ryan Stelzer and Al Kasper returned to join Elms President Harry Dumay on the final judge panel. The winning idea this year was called RoomMe. The team included Caroline Pare - Communication Sciences & Disorders major, Abigail Lafleur - Psychology major, Linda Ramcke - Biology major, ArihJey Villon-Nahue - Criminal Justice major, and Dylan Holubowich - English major. The students designed RoomMe as a website for colleges to use so that they can determine better matches for potential roommates from their incoming residence students. They developed this website idea to address issues within the college community when roommates affect the academic or social acceptance of one another. With all the social and community challenges, it is exciting to see what great problem-solving innovation will be created next fall.

Above: Graphics from first place team’s winning presentation.

First place team from left to right: Linda Ramcke, ArihJey Villon-Nahue, Dylan Holubowich, Abigail Lafleur, and Caroline Pare.