Berry College students were recently awarded a total of $20,000 for their entrepreneurial prototypes.
Sponsored by the college’s Center for Student Enterprises and Entrepreneurship, The Gadget Project is an annual competition in which students create and present their own tangible tool or device.
Over an eight-week period, students transformed their abstract ideas into functional prototypes. They then developed a business model and delivered a pitch presentation to a panel of judges.
Handley Owens, a senior marketing major from Jackson’s Gap, Alabama, came in first place earning $8,000 for the creation of her edible dog bowl. Her bowls are designed to make traveling easy for dog owners and provide enriching meals for dogs.
“I already had the idea and the prototype for The Gadget Project and the support from SEED really helped me put all my plans into place,” Owens said.
Jonathan Langley Deagle earned second place ($6,000) for CUBE, a portable gift card reader. CUBE simplifies the process of checking gift card balances for customers and business owners by displaying the card’s remaining amount on a screen. He is a creative technologies major from Auburn, Georgia.
Haikal Cooper came in third ($3,000) for his BIY (Berry it Yourself) Kit. Cooper’s BIY Kit is a customizable wooden Berry logo. The kit consists of four layers of wood, with each layer depicting a personalized Berry memory. He is a mathematics major from Lawrenceville, Georgia.
To learn more about the Center for Student Enterprises and Entrepreneurship, please visit https://www.berry.edu/c-seed/
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Written by Public Relations Student Assistant Caroline Cleland
Office of Public Relations