It may not be quite baseball season, but three Utica Community Schools students are already prepared to make their pitch.
This “pitch” won’t occur on a baseball diamond, but rather in a board room type setting where students are presenting proposals to investors that earn them up to $10,000 in seed money for their community service projects.
Ava Nightingale and Katherine Farmer, a team from Eisenhower High School, and Adeline Paul, of the Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies, are among three Michigan proposal finalists for the statewide Kiwanis Pitch – a community service project that encourages high school students to explore and present innovative business and social venture projects.
The students will make their pitch on Saturday evening at the Velocity Center in Sterling Heights with a “Shark Tank” type environment where investors will consider awarding them $10,000, $5,000 or $2,500.
Both UCS proposals are community service projects that reflect the passions of the students – The Nightingale and Farmer’s project for greater awareness of food allergies and Paul’s project to introduce robotics to elementary students.
“This entire experience has given us an opportunity to know more about our community,” said Farmer, who is working Nightingale to provide alternate food for students with food allergies through Blessings in a Backpack. “I never would have known this is such a need and has been really eye opening.”
Blessings in a Backpack is a statewide charity project that provides students in need food for the weekend, when they do not have access to the free school breakfast and lunch programs.
Farmer said she and Nightingale met with Blessings representatives to identify the need for supporting alternative food choices. They then researched the alternatives, visiting Meijer – which supports the program – to identify other choices that could be provided to students in our area.
“Through this proposal, we also want to explain to people that allergies need to be looked at as something dangerous,” Farmer said.
Paul is channeling her passion for robotics into a proposal that would create FIRST Lego League teams at all 25 UCS elementary schools. The competition encourages younger students inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.
“Not all of our elementary schools have FIRST teams – even though it is an awesome thing,” she said. “It really grows and thrives once you get it started. More families want to become involved.”
Paul feels her five-year program will change the future for elementary students.
“FIRST is all about helping and giving back to your community,” she said. “It is how they exciting to see how students can build these incredible bots, even at an early age. FIRST also develops a lot of soft skills, such as public speaking and community involvement. It would set students on a path to greater post-secondary success.”
The Kiwanis Pitch, initiated by the Utica Shelby Kiwanis Club, is a community service project encouraging Key Club and High School students aged 14-18 (Think of Shark Tank, but for high school students making a positive impact on their community.)
Students work with an adult advisor to create original works judged on feasibility, growth potential, and a "wow factor."
Judging criteria is focused on project innovation and social impact, evaluating feasibility, sustainability, and creativity. First place wins $10,000, second place wins $5,000 and third place wins $2,500 to complete their project.
The event is open to the public.
The doors of Velocity in Sterling Heights open at 3:30 pm on March 23rd for an hour of networking with industry professionals and community leaders. The Pitch Competition runs from 4:30-6:30 pm. Click here to learn more: https://www.uticashelbykiwanis.org/event/the-kiwanis-pitch/
