L.R.S.D. students tested their innovative mettle during the annual Tiger's Den Entrepreneurship Conference on March 13 at the Board Office Legacy Centre.
Nine student teams were empowered to come up with problem-solving ideas during a full day of teamwork activities, collaboration with partner-consultants and multiple pitches to business-Tigers.
The event began with a keynote address from Rory Bochinski, co-creator of Shocknife, a device that offers realistic training for police and military personnel. His innovative tools accurately simulate the tension and adrenalin-rush of real life danger situations.
The teams were all composed of peers from different schools who met first thing in the morning. They worked furiously to develop team codes of conduct, choose different business roles, pitch ideas to one another, develop cardboard prototypes at a mini-maker studio, plan a presentation and create an appealing display.
Then, at 2:00 p.m., they entered the Tiger's Den.
In a high energy frenzied hour, student teams delivered five minute pitches for a full hour to teams of business partners who judged the problem-solving quality of the ideas and the collaborative teamwork of each group.
The Tiger's Den Champion created K-Go, a charging device for bicycles; second place was TDC, a trauma/stress detection chip; third place was Easy Transit, a bus-ticket app.
Many Tigers commented on the high level of ideas and innovation at the event. Elaine Palson from Futurpreneur, a judge for similar university events, was impressed with the high school pitches. "I was recently a judge for [a university event] and some of their work was not of the quality of the [LRSD] pitches," she said.
Many thanks to the 35 businesses and 10 teachers who provided an environment in which students' creativity and innovation skills were able to flourish.
