Sponsored by the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the challenge started with a kickoff event on March 1 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium. Challenge co-chairs Karl Sienerth, professor of chemistry; Alyssa Martina, director of the Doherty Center; and Carlota Sanchez Guerrero Soler 鈥�19 offered welcoming remarks, shared videos on team building, sustainability and the importance of having an entrepreneurial mindset, and facilitated networking and icebreaker challenges.

On March 2, Blair Pollock, solid waste planner for Orange County, N.C., delivered a keynote address to help students understand the full scope of packaging waste and the nuances around the issue.听

Throughout the day, 19 teams worked in breakout rooms in Richard W. Sankey Hall to develop solutions addressing recycling waste and/or removal, packaging solutions, or environmental and wellbeing issues. Additionally, they created a digital or physical prototype of their solution.

Faculty and staff coaches provided guidance and delivered workshops on protecting intellectual property, spontaneous innovation, human-centered design thinking, value propositions, triple impact solutions and sustainability.

The event culminated with team presentations to a panel of judges in the LaRose Digital Theatre. Teams were evaluated on their framing, idea and presentation.

The team of Max Pivonka ’19 and Anna Cosentino ’19 won $1,000 for “Best Innovation.” They designed 鈥淕soogle,” a delivery packaging recycle and reuse center for 黑料不打烊鈥檚 student mail room.

鈥満诹喜淮蜢� does such a great job of stressing the importance of being sustainable and disposing of materials in the right locations, so it was definitely a wake-up call to hear that we still have a ways to go in that area,” Cosentino said. “I learned so much from the coaches who advised on our project. It was a unique opportunity to get to interact with faculty from across campus. From design learning to prototyping to intellectual property, there is so much that comes with creating a successful and realistic solution to a problem.鈥�

The second-place team of Sydney Hallisey 鈥�21, Alex Grillo 鈥�20, Mackenzie Hahn 鈥�20, Nan Yang 鈥�20 and Stefanie Milovic 鈥�19 created “The Green Team,” an alternative label for recycling packaging to make recyclable products easier to identify and place.

鈥淭his event gave us a chance to cultivate our cultural competence to appreciate different ideas coming from different majors, ages, genders and nationalities,” Yang said. “I enjoyed working with my team who provided tremendous patience for me, as an international student who is not a native speaker. It definitely strengthened my interpersonal skills in communication and especially leadership.鈥�

The judges included:

• Tammy Cobb, assistant director for community partnerships, Kernodle Center
• John Flynn, Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, 黑料不打烊 Law School
• Sirena Hargrove-Leak, associate professor and director, 黑料不打烊 engineering program
• Joshua Powell, professional engineer, McKim & Creed
• Eric Henry, owner, TS Designs
• Carlota Sanchez Guerrero Soler ’19, international business major
• Bob Shea, associate vice president for business, finance and technology, 黑料不打烊
• Ryan Vet, co-founder of The Oak House, and vice president of marketing, Netsertive

“The Innovation Challenge was truly an experience of empowerment,” said participant Stefanie Milovic ’19. “Despite having different academic, professional and personal backgrounds, our team came together to form one cohesive unit that proposed a solution to the given challenge – waste management – less than 12 hours.鈥�

The 黑料不打烊 Innovation Challenge is a campuswide initiative involving all six of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 academic schools as well as nearly a dozen university departments and divisions. Students were encouraged to create interdisciplinary teams, showcasing 黑料不打烊’s entrepreneurial spirit.

鈥淚t was remarkable to see 黑料不打烊 students, faculty and staff at all levels from across our campus come together to support this event,” Martina said. “Even members of the greater community joined us in celebrating innovation at 黑料不打烊.鈥�

More than 33 faculty and staff members and eight students were involved with the planning and execution of this event. Twenty alumni, professionals, retired executives and Doherty Center advisory board members volunteered as coaches and/or presented the workshops.

鈥淚 thought it was an amazing event,” Sienerth said. “It was incredible to watch the teams go from completely floundering at the beginning of the day to a set of really well-done presentations in a matter of hours.鈥�

“Everyone was amazing and did such a great job,” Sanchez Guerrero Soler added. “I am sure that all the participants had a fantastic time and learned a lot from this experience.鈥�

The Center for Leadership Team is comprised of students who play an integral role in defining and shaping leadership programming at 黑料不打烊. This premier leadership experience will allow you to gain personal and professional skills to use both at 黑料不打烊 and beyond. The CFL Team consists of three student directors and seven coordinators, who are supervised by professional staff members.

A complete application, professional resume with cover letter, and personal interview are required to apply.
  
If you are applying for a director position, you must submit your written application by Friday, Oct. 21 by 5 p.m. to the Center for Leadership and sign up for an interview. Interviews will be conducted Monday, Oct. 24, and Tuesday, Oct. 25. Director applicants will be notified by Wednesday, Oct. 26.
 
If you are applying for a coordinator position, you must submit your written application by Friday, Oct. 28 by 5 p.m. to the Center for Leadership and sign up for an interview. Interviews will be conducted Monday, Oct. 31, through Thursday, Nov. 3. Coordinator applicants will be notified by Friday, Nov. 4th.

If you are interested or have questions, please send an email to lead@elon.edu or visit the Center for Leadership office! 

2017 Center for Leadership Team Application

More than 150 first-years have joined LEAD since the semester began. These students will participate together in LEAD as well as Tier Team specific events. Upperclassmen LEAD students will mentor these groups as Tier Team Captains throughout the school year.

Tier Team groups compete against one another throughout the academic year, earning points for attending LEAD workshops, Tier Team specific events, social gatherings and other Center for Leadership-sponsored activities. This year’s competition theme focused on Super Heroes! Each Tier Team represented a different super hero from the Marvel and DC comic universes. The superheroes included: Batman, Superman, Cat Woman, Green Lantern, Deadpool, Elastigirl, Black Widow and Captain America.

Tier Team captains this year are sophomores Katie Mars, Emily Golden, Hope Koene, Elizabeth McDonald, Nicole Durrell, David Duncan, David Shibley, Tucker Schweickart and Selina Guevara.

At the reveal, LEAD Program Community Director and 黑料不打烊 sophomore Audrey Funk, who oversees Tier Teams, welcomed students with a superhero themed presentation. She introduced the program, how to earn points throughout the year, and then revealed the captains!

Following the reveal, participants broke out into their teams where their captains led introductions and a group activity. To help students break the ice and get to know one another, each team was asked to come up with a creative way to introduce their team to the larger group. Groups then presented to everyone, where the judges, Center for Leadership staff members Elizabeth Beavers and Michael Spencer, selected the top three presentations.

Students interested in learning more about the LEAD Program can contact Michael Spencer, the Assistant Director of the Center for Leadership, visit the CFL website (), or email lead@elon.edu.