Our June cover feature highlighted the STARTedUp Foundation and its high school pitch competition. That same month, STARTedUp held its State Finals and invited me to attend. I was curious to see the “Shark Tank-style” competition and what the students were presenting, so I made my way to Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall to watch.

Ten finalists presented their pitches in 10-minute time slots to the six judges. Each had six minutes to pitch their idea and four minutes for questions from the judges. The students came from across the state and reached the finals either by winning their regional or by being selected as a wild card.

The students’ impressive presentations blew me away. Not only did they have to create an introduction video, but they also had to develop detailed financials outlining how they would use the $25,000 first-place prize and what their company’s future expansion would look like. It was hard to believe they were teenagers. Ideas ranged from skin cancer screening on your phone to a system that turns plastics into fuel sources.

My favorite project also won first place in the competition. If you’ve ever been in the hospital, you know that an IV system will set off an alarm whenever you put your arm in the wrong position. OccluSense, created by Riya Koya and Zaina Khan of Carmel High School, is a program that analyzes IV pressure to prevent unnecessary alarms. This frees up nursing time and reduces alarm fatigue.

It’s hard not to come away from that competition feeling better about the future. If these students are any indication, the next generation is smart, creative, and ready to take on hard challenges. As The Who sang, “The kids are alright.”

BRITT DAVIS is editor of Indiana Connection