Around 70 students from eight high schools across the region convened Oct. 28 on the campus of Northwestern College in Orange City to help a real business solve a problem.
The INNOVATE Competition, which is in its eighth year, encourages innovative problem-solving and creative thinking for a real organization. This year, the sponsoring businesses were American State Bank, Perspective Insurance and American Investment & Trust, all subsidiaries of Ambank Company, which is headquartered in Sioux Center.
When the student competitors showed up on campus, they had no idea what problem they would be asked to solve. They also had no clue who they would team up with to solve it.
“At first it, was kind of an awkward experience,” said Averie Nelson, a junior at Spencer High School, who was participating in the competition for the first time.
“But then all of our ideas kind of came together to make one big idea, and all of our skills kind of came together,” she said. “So, I thought it was really cool.”
Sioux Center High School business teacher Andrew Thonstad said student competitors sign up for a full and demanding day. They get thrown together in the morning, then present their project to the judges already at 1 p.m.
“Students appreciate the ability to show that they can work together with other students they don’t know to tackle challenges in a creative way,” Thonstad said. “The INNOVATE Competition is very fast paced — students have to work quickly to put their ideas into action. Students have to build their team chemistry, research and solve the problem, create a presentation, and present it to the judges — all within four-and-a-half hours.”
The timeline is somewhat grueling, according to West Sioux High School sophomore Peyton Nohava.
“My group learned a lot about how to work with new people in a very high-pressure situation,” Nohava said. “It was a good way to challenge ourselves and try something new.”
The challenge
This year’s competition began with an introduction from employees of the participating sister businesses, then students were given their challenge for the day: Build a program for teenagers that offers fun opportunities to increase their financial literacy while offering specialized products, services and perks related to banking, investments and insurance.
American State Bank already has Kids Club, a savings program designed to teach children about saving money through fun activities and perks, but the business does not offer any products or services geared explicitly toward teens. INNOVATE competitors were asked to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood by drawing on what they know best — teens.
Peyton Van Otterloo is a junior at Sioux Center High School, and this year was her second time participating in the competition.
“This is so new to me — I’m not a finance person,” she said. “But we’re the biggest help that you can get — because it’s for us. It’s targeted to us.”
Boyden-Hull High School business teacher Alex Frick said his students were motivated to meet the challenge in part because the stakes felt real.
“They were definitely excited to see that the business is really interested in hearing their ideas — it adds a layer of relevancy for them, and it fuels the drive of the competition,” Frick said. “I think they would absolutely like to see some of their ideas see the light of day sometime.”
Frick’s participating students are either enrolled in his marketing class this semester or they participate in the high school’s Center for Advanced Professional Studies, or CAPS, program, which Frick advises.
Sofia Sandbulte, market development officer at American State Bank, was eager to hear from teens from across the region, and she said students’ ideas may well find their way into reality at some point.
“Our whole marketing team is here, and that’s really the goal,” she said. “Because the best way to figure out what we want for the teens is to get it directly from them.
“We have 10 different teams coming up with 10 different brand-new ideas,” she added.
Sandbulte was one of the employees assigned to mentor each of the 10 teams. She said she was responsible for providing the students with guidance and, when needed, a reality check about what was actually feasible in the world of finance.
“We’re just supposed to serve as a resource for the students — kind of like their Google, but for our company,” Sandbulte said. “We answer questions, give them ideas, kind of let them know, ‘This would work,’ or ‘This wouldn’t,’ or ‘This would be really hard.’ Because some of them don’t know the backside of banking.”
The pitch
Students pitched a variety of ideas designed to appeal broadly to teenagers, including a mobile app called Next Gen that would provide teens ages 13-18 with incentives to build their savings and increase their financial literacy.
A couple of teams proposed creating Edpuzzles, or interactive video lessons, to help teach teens the ins and outs of finance.
Other teams pitched a program that would automatically round up purchases to the nearest dollar and put the change in their savings account.
Sheldon High School business teacher Amanda De Groot said her students appreciated having a mentor in the business who could field their ideas.
“They said they felt like they knew the process because we have done some problem-solving activities in class already this semester,” De Groot said. “They enjoyed working with students from other schools and the ability to ask the business partner about current products and services they offer to clarify their pitch.”
Students were challenged to develop products and services related to insurance, too, and one team proposed offering teens college scholarships as an incentive for safe driving, keeping the cost of auto insurance down for teen drivers or their families.
Erin Norling, who teaches business classes at West Sioux High School, brought students from her entrepreneurship class to the competition this year. It’s the first time her school has competed, and she appreciated the real-world orientation of the learning challenge.
“Whenever you can partner with a real business in the area, I think it brings a validity to the project that is hard to replicate otherwise,” Norling said. “It was a great way to stretch their creativity and problem-solving skills. They were also able to test their confidence by presenting to a panel of judges and a room full of peers.”
One of Norling’s students, sophomore Alia Topete, agreed with her teacher’s assessment.
“We had to present in front of people from the bank, the college and all of the students from different schools,” she said. “I have never had to present in front of a group that large. I walked away feeling more confident in my own communication skills.”
At the beginning of the day’s events, students were grouped into 10 teams, and each team was composed of students from other participating high schools. Eight high schools across the region were represented — Boyden-Hull, Hinton, Sheldon, Sioux Center, Sioux City Heelan, Spencer, Western Christian and West Sioux. The competitors gathered in the De Witt Learning Commons, located on the second floor of Northwestern’s De Witt Library.
Northwestern business professor Erica Vonk, lead organizer of the competition, said a record number of schools participated this year, although each year the competition fills to maximum capacity.
“There were some smaller numbers from schools, so that allowed more schools to come,” she said. “But again, we can’t hold more people in that room. It gets full — it gets crazy, which is awesome.”
During the award ceremony at the end, students in the top three teams are awarded a cash prize — $15 each for third place, $25 each for second and $50 each for first.
Vonk said INNOVATE offers a win-win scenario for the students and businesses who participate. Business leaders get the chance to pick the brains of young people, who bring new ideas and imaginative solutions. Students get the chance to tackle a real problem, knowing the solutions they propose might actually be implemented.
“That’s been the value-add of this competition year after year — it’s easy for me to ask businesses to participate because I can give them the past examples of what businesses have actually been able to implement,” Vonk said.
The INNOVATE Competition is sponsored by Northwestern’s business and economics department, which develops leadership programs that foster connections between the college and various community partners. Vonk is the center’s director, and she said the INNOVATE Competition is a natural fit on Northwestern’s campus.
“The reason we continue to hold it is it aligns really well with our mission of the college of courageous learning: ‘What does courageous learning look like?’” Vonk said. “It’s a great way to show high schoolers, ‘You can contribute. You have value as a teenager, and organizations would love to hear from you.’
“I think that’s empowering to anyone — but especially a teenager.”
The original article published by NWestIowa.com can be found here.
