Entrepreneurs discuss strategies to improves education at HUB Raleigh last Saturday." />
Entrepreneurs discuss strategies to improves education at HUB Raleigh last Saturday.
HUB Raleigh hosted the first Triangle Startup Weekend Education challenge this weekend.
Startup Weekends are global events that bring together a diverse group of entrepreneurs hoping to make an impact using member’s skills and knowledge-base.
Startup Weekends have spread globally and are led by the Kauffman Foundation, a non-profit organization headquartered in Kansas City. Similar events were held in multiple locations across the United States, as well as in Canada, Spain and Israel this weekend. More have been held internationally.
A key mission of the Kauffman Foundation is “fostering economic independence by advancing education and entrepreneurship.”
About 120 people from different career and education backgrounds gathered Friday night at HUB Raleigh, all with their own creative, education-based pitches. As pitches were voted on, 13 teams were formed with a mission to develop a plan to change the face of education.
Participants included students, engineers, programmers, administrators, professors, designers and teachers, including many Teach For America members.
Mital Patel, director for the event, is an attorney in Raleigh who provides legal services to small, tech startups as well as small- and medium-sized businesses. Before attending law school, Patel developed his enthusiasm for technology by studying computer science at N.C. State.
Patel said the lack of mobility that education has experienced over the last 100 years was a key motivation behind the conference. He said the key to the success of the weekend was bringing together people with different skill-sets who might not normally come together to work on a project.
“We were able to get together educators and entrepreneurs in the same room, which doesn’t happen very often,” Patel said.
Teams were formed based on pitches that were voted on Friday. The teams went to work Saturday and spent all day — and much of the night — putting their plans into action.
Sagar Shukla, a sophomore attending UNC-Chapel Hill, said finding himself immersed in an entrepreneurial environment was an inspirational experience he will not forget.
While Shukla chose not to pitch an original plan, he found himself thrown into a mix of people willing to “shake things up.”
Shulka formed a team with other educators and programmers to form an educational medium called “Path 2 Code,” which took 2nd place honors at the judging round and tied for 1st place in the “people’s choice” category.
“Path 2 Code” will allow employers to streamline their search for skilled employees in multiple ways. By teaching high school kids who might not otherwise have access to learning tools how to code and program, “Path 2 Code” establishes a mutual relationship between employer and employee.
The winning prize went to a team who established a program called “Coursefork.” The idea behind Coursefork is a curriculum that computer scientists can use to teach, share and improve others’ lessons, much like an online “wiki” in which information is open to edits and improvements but monitored by overseers.
Top prize honors include legal advising services provided by Mital’s marketing firm and a working space at HUB-Raleigh, totaling approximately $10,000.
Triangle Startup Weekend will move to Durham in April and Chapel Hill soon after. While the targeted topics of both events have yet to be finalized, Patel said a key factor in the success of Startup Weekends in the future will be students.
Patel said that students are the future workforce, and because of the world-class universities that make up the Research Triangle Park, the talent pool may be limitless.