Earlier this week semi-finalists in the Buzzinga! case-competition made presentations to a panel of judges on their ideas and proposals of entirely student driven solutions to campus challenges.
Organizers of the competition put forward the idea of developing an initiative to enhance campus culture as the inaugural theme. 12 groups of undergraduate and graduate students responded to this call for an opportunity to earn up to $10,000 in funding and assistance from SGA and campus departments towards bringing these ideas to life.
“The idea of campus culture being a problem that needs solving is broad, its something that can touch on your traditional athletics and getting more people out to sporting events while its also got a mental health component so that we can have happier students at Tech overall who are more invested in campus and provide everyone with a better experience,” said Amit Khanduri, a business administration major and vice president of the undergraduate SGA who was a big part in organizing this event.
A document SGA released online broke down the judging criteria and three phases of competition for Buzzinga! The first phase from March 1 through April 1 was when student participants formed teams and worked together to create their proposal for a solution to the problem statement. The 12 submissions were narrowed down to six finalists who then went on to give 15 minute presentations to a panel of judges and other campus administrators with five minutes for questions and answers. This proposal was judged based on creativity for 15 points, sustainability of the project for 20 points, campus reach in regards to undergrad and grad students for 40 points as well as feasibility broken down into ease of implementation and the cost of the initiative within the Joint Finance Committee’s policies and would be weighted at 25 points while teams also had the opportunity to earn 15 points for having a graduate and undergraduate presence on their team.
Many of the teams focused on ideas concerned with increasing communication among the entire student body and getting students from all social circles more involved in all aspects of campus life. With different ideas for implementation each group brought new ideas to the table.
“We spent a lot of time coming up with a proposal as I’m sure all the other groups did but regardless of how Buzzinga! goes I think every group has the potential to go beyond just winning this one competition and starting an organization or initiative on campus of their own,” said Shahmeer Mirza a third year CHBE major and participant with his group in the competition.
Though Public voting closes on Monday the final presentation date is still to be determined before a winner for is announced.