Every semester, first-year Honors College students create more than 50 social innovation projects in the Honors College Forum, our mission course taken by all first-year HC students. This spring, our students once again demonstrated Curiosity, Knowledge, and Purpose as they collaborated in small interdisciplinary teams to create sustainable business and service concepts to address specific local challenges in communities near and far. Through their projects, they also learned to work together to refine, articulate, and present their ideas in a compelling and persuasive manner.
Congratulations to all of the teams who presented before a panel of judges from business and academia and to our winners from this spring’s Forum Competition!
Winning Projects
First Place: PuriTree
A model to address the drinking water crisis in India by using refined Moringa Tree seeds for water purification and selling the powder and beverages through drink shops in urban areas where sales will offset the costs for low cost distribution to rural communities.
Project Created by (from middle right clockwise):
Nikhil Bagchi ('23, SOE/HC),
Nisha Patel ('23, RBS/HC),
Diana Chan ('23, SOE/HC), and
Sidhu Arakkal ('23, SOE/HC)
Teaching Fellow (top left): Martin Zorde
Learning Assistant (top right): Lauren Boone
Second Place: CLOUD
A concept to stop open defecation in rural villages in India by distributing biodegradable bags, which will then be collected and the feces turned into eco-friendly, sturdy bricks to be sold to construction companies across India for profit.
Project Created by (from middle right clockwise):
Gnaneswar Chundi ('23, SOE/HC),
Alexis Ramirez ('23, SAS/HC),
Anjana Ramesh ('23, SAS/HC),
Maya Bolling ('23, SAS/HC)
Teaching Fellow (top left): Harita Menon
Learning Assistant (top right): Jonathan Chan
Third Place: Brush Hour
A solution to address oral hygiene in rural areas in the Philippines by operating a mobile dental clinic with costs offset by the sales of locally manufactured, globally sold aloe and charcoal infused antibacterial toothbrushes.
Project Created by (from middle right clockwise):
Srinandini Marpaka ('23, RBS/HC),
Vincent Sotirov ('23, SAS/HC),
Abdul Uddin ('23, SOE/HC)
Teaching Fellow (top): Martha Sullivan
Learning Assistant (middle left): Juliet Petillo