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HANCOCK -- Teams of local students brainstormed and honed their pitched before competing to see which one had the best business idea at Finlandia University's Shark Day.
Lauren Huested, Finlandia's education partner manager, brought the concept to the university after working at a larger school downstate. She had taken part in their Shark Week activities, modeled after the "Shark Tank" TV show.
The first Shark Day happened in March. Huested said she's looking to hold one every semester.
The students get to see a college campus, but in a fun way that stirs their creativity more than a traditional visit, Huested said.
"It might expose them to an interest in business, or they might find they want to be in arts and sciences or health sciences and still have that creative, entrepreneurial attitude," she said.
Students were given a prompt when they arrived: develop a product around outdoor recreation.
Teams were given an hour to brainstorm and assemble a 90-second pitch.
They had to meet several criteria. They had to describe their product. They had to identify their market, and the need it satisfies. They also had to describe their communication plan, and explain why the judge should invest.
Student volunteers and faculty from Finlandia's College of Business also helped out, Huested said.
The final round Wednesday afternoon included teams from Calumet, Baraga and Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College's career and technical education program.
Calumet's team of Scarlet Futrell, David Makolin and Ema Schneiderhan took the top prize with its idea for all-terrain wheelchairs for disabled people.
One of the event volunteers had suggested something for disabled people when the team was brainstorming, Futrell said.
"We just thought, 'What if we had a wheelchair that was more accessible and could go on different terrain so that they could experience the world?" she said.
The first round was done in classrooms. One team from each advanced to the finals, held in the auditorium at Hirvonen Hall before a panel of judges. They listened to the pitches and asked the teams questions about their products. For Calumet, that meant questions about what conditions the wheelchair could handle and whether they could partner with community agencies to find a market.
"The first time, when it was just our school, it was definitely nerve-wracking," Schneiderhan said after the final event. "But the one that we just did was a breeze."
Serving on the panel were Daniel Yoder, senior business consultant with the Michigan Small Business Development Center; Amanda Makela, owner of 2nd Sandbar Productions; Clay Hilman, owner of K.C. Bonker's Toys & Coffee; Shana Porteen, owner of Black Ice Comics & Books; and Jason Mack, MTEC SmartZone's vice president of business development.
All three Calumet students are part of a business development class at the high school. Part of the class included the field trip to Finlandia.
"It was definitely fun to get to miss some school and just come to this university and get to experience all of this with other schools," Futrell said. "Coming up with new business prompts so quickly and just performing it was definitely a great experience."