A two-person team representing Edison State Community College competed in the finals of the Pitch Piqua competition. They pitched a VR program training against armed intruders for schools, businesses, and police, and won the $50,000 grand prize.
Edison State Community College participated in the second annual Pitch Piqua competition recently, and won the $50,000 grand prize after being one of only three finalist organizations in the competition.
Edison State Community College was represented by Dr. Andy Runyan and Laura Larger. Upper Valley Career Center was represented by Sara Plozay and Tim Cordonnier. Health Partners Free Clinic was represented by JoAnn Barhorst and Deborah Miller.
For the competition, each of the three organizations had to prepare a pitch of the project they had been developing with the Piqua Community Foundation team. The competition started in July of last year with an application process. Then a committee selected semifinalists and conducted interviews to determine which of the contestants would become the three finalists. The finalists were announced in September, and began developing their projects which they would present at the Pitch Piqua event on March 2. During preparations, each team was discouraged from talking about their project with others.
At the event, each organization was given five minutes for their project’s pitch to a panel of judges and an audience. They were then given another five minutes where they faced questions from the judges. Afterward, the judges used a variety of criteria such as readiness of the project to launch, impact on Piqua’s residents, and evidence to support the need of the project, to rank the three presentations. The winning project should launch within the next six months.
The four judges on this year’s panel included Rebecca Sousek, executive director of the Piqua Compassion Network (which won last year’s competition), Andrew Monnin with VPP Industries Inc., Jeff Pedro Jr. with Crooked Handle Brewing Company, and Amy Welker, assistant city manager. The community of Piqua was also given the ability to vote by donating at least $10 to the competing organization of their choice. The two organizations that did not win the $50,000 top prize were each awarded a $5,000 grant.
The winning project pitched by Edison State Community College was called “Prepared.” The project will utilize virtual reality equipment to train first responders by running them through training simulations. The project will also let local businesses, local police departments, and teachers in local schools use the equipment to train for armed intruder situations. According to the presentation, the total cost of the equipment and classroom upgrades will be $62,500. The entirety of the $50,000 grant will go toward paying for the program with the remaining total coming from Edison State and the Edison Foundation.
According to an article from Miami Valley Today, Dr. Runyan finished the pitch by saying, “Help us train our first responders using virtual reality so we can all be prepared when an unwanted intruder becomes your reality.”
Edison State’s project got 113 votes from the community and almost $2,000 in community donations, which is added to the $50,000 grand prize, meaning the school walked away with $51,718.85.
Both Larger and Dr. Runyan noted that they were pleasantly surprised at winning the grand prize.
Dr. Runyan expressed the team’s gratitude, saying, “Thank you so much. It was so exciting to see so many people here tonight from Edison, including our students. We are humbled by their support. We hope that the other projects find ways to do theirs because it’s all good stuff. Thank you to the foundation for putting on the event.”
Upper Valley Career Center won second prize with their pitch of The Salon @ 8811, a mobile hair salon for its cosmetology students. Their 32 community votes netted them a total of $816.19 which was added to their prize of $5,000.
Health Partners Free Clinic was awarded third place with their pitch of “Save our Sisters,” a project focusing on expanding its current operations to include cervical cancer and breast cancer screening capabilities at its clinic facilities. Also part of the pitch was a resource center that would refer patients to other oncology programs in the area. The free clinic was given a total of $2,577.48 from 94 community votes, which will be added to the $5,000 awarded for being a finalist.
The Vice President of the Piqua Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, Andrew Snyder, spoke before the presentations, saying, “I truly believe that no matter which one of these organizations win tonight, our community is going to win as a whole.”
Michelle Perry, who serves as the executive director of the Piqua Community Foundation, spoke after the event to Miami Valley Today, saying, “It was an incredible evening. I love the energy in the room and the way that the community rallies around these finalist teams and the amazing work that they’re already doing in our community and their vision for more. I’m blown away.”
More information about Edison State Community College can be found at the school’s website.