Kentucky Project Lead the Way High School Inventors to Bring Big Ideas to UK
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 8, 2013) — Five Kentucky Project Lead the Way (PLTW) high schools are sending a total of 12 teams to the University of Kentucky this month to compete in an "Intellectual Property Pitch Contest," sponsored by the University of Kentucky Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship and the Foundation for Kentucky Industry. Set for March 14, the competition will be held in the Davis Marksbury Building on the UK Campus.
The UK College of Engineering is the PLTW Affiliate University for the Commonwealth responsible for the three-pronged mission of Education, Credit and Quality of the Pathway to Engineering and Biomedical Sciences programs implemented statewide. Currently there are 130 programs across the state reaching approximately 10,000 students.
The contest is a pilot program of the PLTW Kentucky initiative, which supports biomedical sciences and engineering pathways in high schools across the state.
“PLTW encourages students to consider postsecondary pathways they might otherwise have overlooked," said Dianne Leveridge, director of the program. "The curriculum, aligned to national math, science and language arts standards, has been selected by the Kentucky Department of Education as an ‘accelerator’ for secondary students. The students enrolled in PTLW courses are making stronger, longer-lasting connections between academics and practical application of those academics; higher percentages tend to pursue and persist in STEM pathways, particularly engineering and pre-medicine; and outperform their non-PLTW peers once in postsecondary educational pathways. Students who choose non-STEM careers find they are better prepared, regardless of their chosen postsecondary endeavors.”
Project teams are comprised of a minimum of two or maximum of three PLTW juniors or seniors who have a potentially patentable idea — a unique, creative solution to a problem — that they are developing within the PLTW Pathway to Engineering courses. Each team will have five minutes to present their idea to a panel of judges of entrepreneurs, engineers, businesspeople and educators. The presentation will be followed by a five-minute question-and-answer period.
Projects will be judged on the basis of the strength, creativity and uniqueness of the idea or technology; a description and knowledge of the target market and revenue model (how the venture will make money); and the overall quality of the students’ presentation skills. PLTW develops these skills within secondary students through the rigorous, relevant, hands-on, project- and problem-based curricula. Many students enrolled in PLTW courses across the Commonwealth develop their postsecondary choices earlier, due in large part to the extensive career research across the broad fields of engineering and health care within each PLTW pathway.
The team with the winning pitch will receive a $500 prize Thursday, March 14. In addition, the students are writing an essay describing how their PLTW teacher encourages them to think in a "global entrepreneurial manner," and the best essay will earn a $500 prize for the teacher.
"Learning to pitch your idea to investors, customers, and strategic partners is a critical part of the entrepreneurship process," said Dean Harvey, executive director of the Von Allmen Center. "This pitch competition will give the students an opportunity to practice their five-minute pitch and get feedback from three experienced mentors."
Daviess County (Apollo High School)
Teacher: Aaron Yeiser
Students: Blake Knott and Dalton Nonweiler
Hopkins County (Madisonville-North Hopkins High School)
Teacher Eddie Milum
Students: Dominick Yarbrough, Jacob Strader
Hardin County (Central Hardin High School)
Teacher: Jason Neagle
Students: Timmy Dempster, Avery Johnson, Willson Weakley, Christopher Lord, Tyle Beeler, Dakota Yeager, Louis Bazan, Derrick Archibald, Robert Romano, Joseph Pulliman, Weston Nall, and Kenton Nall
Graves County (Graves County High School)
Teacher: Abbie Morris
Students: Alex Beck, Matthew Moreno, Hunter Edward Goree, Jeremy Taylor Shields, Daniel Ray Moreland, and Kenneth Ryan Gann
Trigg County (Trigg County High School)
Teacher: Lori Ricks
Students: Andrew Dunn, Frank Matthew Bozynski, Primal Deepak Patel, Christian Proffitt, Romaine Cunningham, Duncan Mangels, Hannah Major, Heather Hall, and X’Zashea Mayes
Project Lead The Way is the leading provider of rigorous and innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education curricular programs used in middle and high schools across the United States. Project Lead the Way’s pathways emphasize and develop creative critical thinking, teamwork, innovation and real-world problem solving.
The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship and the Lexington Innovation and Commercialization Center (ICC) are units of the University of Kentucky. Their mission is to foster the development of high-performance companies in the Bluegrass Region and to accelerate the commercialization of research at UK.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jenny Wells, (859) 257-5343; Jenny.Wells@uky.edu