$10,000 awarded to innovative students during competition
The School of Business and School of Engineering held their first official Create Fest on March 31, an event held for students to show judges their original pitches in hopes of receiving funding to launch their products.
Create Fest is a student-led event that is organized by engineering and business students through the Creationeer Café. The mission of the Creationeer Café is to “cultivate a community and culture to grow God-inspired ideas.” Student leaders Nate Breed and Daniel Hembry hosted the event, along with Joshua Alatis who provided event organization.
The competition consisted of five finalists who have dedicated immense time and money to make their products top-tier. The judges consisted of five individuals, all of whom have had extensive experience in business operations. Lynchburg business owners Jordan and Holly Nickerson, who own Rookie’s, Bacon St. Bagel’s and Corduroy Coffee, were included in the panel alongside Doug Johnson, Dexter Glass and Abe Loper.
The cash prize of $10,000 was funded by multi-business owners and Liberty alumni David and Jason Benham. The final award was not given to just one contestant, but a sum of money was granted to each finalist by the judges. Event advisor and School of Engineering professor Marc Jantomaso views all of the finalists as winners.
“In my mind, all five of these are winners because they’ve made it to the final out of 40 different product ideas, so these are the final five,” Jantomaso said.
The winners consisted of students from a variety of majors, such as graphic design, psychology and more. Collin Partington, who is a sophomore in civil engineering, created his business pitch “Easy Sleeve” and received the most funding, totaling $4,000. His invention seeks to solve the solution of tangled Christmas lights. Partington created a cloth sleeve to store the lights in to prevent tangling, making Christmas decorating easier for everyone.
“I am feeling obviously really good; I think this went really well. I’ve been getting nothing but mostly positive feedback. (I have) a couple things I need to work on, which is all good to hear. So right now, I’m feeling pretty amazing,” Partington said.
The other finalists also received funding for their ideas. Among the contestants was brother duo Caleb and Gabriel Gordillo, creators of “Gordo Games.” They created a game company designed to “invite people to explore exciting new worlds and embark on epic adventures together.”
Adelin Lucaci created “Novu,” which are suckers designed to distribute caffeine to the bloodstream in a healthier, faster way. Sophie Batchelor and Sydney Bearinger designed “shoEZ,” shoes designed to be “comfortable, accessible and effortless” to assist those with disabilities. Brandon Lucaci invented an app called “Veer” to “counteract digital media overstimulation” and to increase productivity.
Nate Breed, one of the overseers and hosts of the event, has been helping with preparation for more than a year. Breed said he looked forward to seeing God being glorified through this event.
“To see God glorified, I really thank all of these teams we chose because they all expressed that they want to glorify God through their products,” Breed said. “God is … not only a buzzword that we’re throwing out there — he’s the foundation of this.”
Jantomaso hopes this event will flourish in the coming years and be open to prospective students during CFAW next year. He believes Liberty is a great school for innovation, and he seeks to continue creativity through Create Fest.
“Liberty of all places should be the most innovative university. Dr. Falwell was a risktaker, and I believe as Christians, we should all be risk-takers, which we call … faith,” Jantomaso said. “It’s believing without seeing, and that’s what risk takers do. I believe Liberty will, in time, attract the innovators, the creators because that’s the culture that this school was birthed in.”
Denny is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion