Schools
Young Entrepreneurs Pitch Smartphone App Ideas in 'Shark Tank'-Type Contest
Eighth grade students at McCollough Unis School in Dearborn develop innovative journalism-based smartphone programs.
When McCollough Unis eighth grader Khalil Shuayto arrived at school on Friday, he was dressed for success. Clad in a white dress shirt and black tie, he looked the part of budding CEO more than a middle school student going to school to pitch an idea for a new mobile app during a “Shark Tank”-like contest.
Shuayto was one of 30 students participating in the school's "News Entrepreneurs’ Pitchfest." The event was part of the culmination of a three-year digital literacy project called The Living Textbook, which was launched by the Asian American Journalists Association with funding from the McCormick and Ford foundations. The project helps students meet current curriculum standards in social studies and language arts while also developing tech-related, 21st century skills.
Students in the school's journalism class were divided into six groups and asked to come up with their best ideas for new mobile apps. Vying for bags of candy, the teams were judged on creativity, marketability and practicality. Students were given three minutes to present their ideas and business proposals to a panel of judges made up of Pamela Hurtt, senior consultant to the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan; and Stefanie Murray, director of digital audience development at the Detroit Free Press.
Shuayto's team developed an app titled "The Allergizer." According to the team, the app would allow users to place a piece of food into a device connected to a smartphone. The app would analyze the sample to inform the user what ingredients were in the food to help prevent unexpected allergic reactions.
While the concept did not garner the judges' funding, its technological aspect was impressive.
"It's extremely creative," Hurtt said. "High tech ideas help create a lot of jobs, and I would love to see the idea of the Allergizer refined in the future."
Five other teams presented their pitches, which included:
- The J-News app: An app that would aggregate news from writers and journalism websites across the country.
- Flashback app: An app that would scan and archive local and national newspapers no longer in print to allow users to access information for research purposes.
- Help Me Shop.com: An app that would provide users a list of available stores that sell clothes that fit a particular style based on the user's profile.
- Living Textbook app: An app that would allow journalism students and writers to submit stories focused on sports, news, entertainment, and business.
- Globe Hunter app: An app that would aggregate local and international news, with an emphasis on user interaction and visual images.
"We had to look at this project as investors," Hurtt said. "What app would give us our return on investment the fastest? Was there a clear problem the team addressed? Did they do their market research?"
Murray said the judges also considered the potential app's path to revenue and its scalability.
"Overall, I was very impressed with all of the pitches," Murray said.
Emilia Askari, co-director of The Living Textbook, said exposing the 13- and 14-year-old students to a real-life business scenario provides valuable skills that can be valuable in the workforce.
"Every student should have these types of 21st century critical thinking skills," Askari said. "It's a very exciting time for journalists, and for the way society communicates. This assignment presented students with the challenge of thinking beyond the classroom and looking to the global marketplace."
Aminta Zea, leader of the J-News group, said she enjoyed working on the assignment.
"It was a lot of fun," Zea said. "I really enjoyed working with others to come up with our concept."
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