THE PENDULUM

The contest was held in coordination with the Stanford Innovation Tournament, which challenges students around the globe to use an everyday object to create as much value as possible. The weeklong event began with a kickoff on Nov. 12, where the object was revealed. 

Junior Summer Curtiss, who helped organize the competition, said finding value in water bottles presented unique problems. 

“It’s just easier and more socially acceptable to use biodegradable cups,” she said. “But, if you think about it, it may be better to use water bottles instead of 21 cups a week.” 

Junior Angela Sparrow was part of the Alpha Omicron Pi team, along with six other people. Her team created a raft out of plastic water bottles. Sparrow got the idea from a professor who mentioned finding research about illegal immigrants who saved up water bottles to create makeshift rafts to float up the Rio Grande River. 

“We didn’t want to do a project on recycling,” Sparrow said. “We wanted to think outside the box, and we thought everyone would do recycling.” 

In addition to the 15 teams of Elon students, teams from Wake Forest University, Lenoir-Rhyne University, the UNC Charlotte, the UNC Chapel Hill and Brevard College participated. 

Greg Palin, a senior lecturer in entrepreneurship and executive director of the Entrepreneurship Education Initiative, served as the challenge's adviser. He said there were 500 global participant entries, meaning that Elon accounted for 4.2 percent of the entries worldwide. 

“I’m very pleased with the involvement from Elon and other universities,” Palin said. “We’ll repeat this process to build future success.” 

Curtiss said she thinks the turnout with grow from year to year. 

“The response has been really good, especially for the short-term notice,” she said. “I think it will be even better next year, because people will know more about it. More fraternities and sororities might participate as a philanthropic event, because the top teams get to donate money to a charity of their choice.” 

The first place team will win $500, the second place team $200 and the third place team $100. 

“It’s really good to see students step out of their daily routine and go out and make a change,” Curtiss said. “It’s a great opportunity for experimental learning.” 

All teams had until Monday at noon to submit a video of three minutes or less that explained the added value. The videos were judged on content and creativity, not the quality of video production. 

Sparrow said her team spent a total of about 10 hours creating the raft and taping and editing the video. 

“I think it was awesome to be able to teach people about a subject I’m passionate about and put a different perspective on something we use and take for granted everyday,” she said. 

Challenge participants had to be resourceful and creative, which Palin said was the point of the competition. 

“Creativity is such a part of entrepreneurship, and this is a creativity competition that gives students an opportunity to experience in a short time frame the need to find creative solutions,” Palin said. 

The Challenge was sponsored by the Doherty Center for Entrepreneur Leadership and will culminate today with a showcase in Koury Business Center at 4 p.m.