McDaniel students have winning entries in “Pitch to Get Paid” contest

McDaniel College awarded 10 students cash prizes for their winning entries in the College's "Pitch to Get Paid" contest during the fall 2019 semester.

• Joshua Arruda of Morrisville, Pa., Aaron Washington of Washington D.C., and Justin Chapin of Damascus, Md., won for N-Vite, their social invitation application. The proposed mobile application promotes inclusiveness, sending invites to an event to people they known and those they don’t know to extend their social network.
• Arruda also won for Wager World and Charge Guard. Wager World is a proposed mobile application or a website that focuses on educating sports consumers about sports betting by using virtual currency and allowing participants to make fake wagers through a game-based online community. Charge Guard, a clothing line, is proposed to specialize in injury prevention and performance for basketball.
• Kate Cramer of Glen Rock, Pa., and Tre Gaskins of Upper Marlboro, Md., pitched Exigent, a product that can decrease emergency room wait time and potentially improve the chances of surviving a stroke.
• Collin Shriner of Frederick, Md., and Cameron Etris of Chevy Chase, Md., pitched an E-Bike Rental Service as a fast and efficient way to get around Westminster, Md., that can be used through a mobile application.
• Gabe Brusco of Middletown, Md., and Brooklyn Abdurrahim of Gwynn Oak, Md., submitted a pitch on clutch vending machines. The vending machine would include items needed in a time crunch like a phone charger, headphones, energy drinks, school supplies and more. 
• Matthew O’Neill of Port Deposit, Md., won for Ed Connection, a class-specific chatroom application. O'Neill proposed the mobile application that can be used to connect students in the same class in a chatroom.

McDaniel students have the chance to win $275 by submitting two-to-four-minute videos featuring their innovative ideas for the "Pitch to Get Paid" contest.

McDaniel College's entrepreneur-in-residence Jonathan C. Weetman along with faculty and staff on The Encompass Distinction Steering Committee select the winners, who then have the opportunity to continue to develop their business ideas to compete for a $10,000 top prize in the McDaniel College Innovation Challenge competition to be held in April 2020.

Both the "Pitch to Get Paid" and McDaniel College Innovation Challenge are part of the college's The Encompass Distinction, an academic program in innovation and entrepreneurship that is open to students in any major. The program is made possible with the support of 1968 alumnus Dennis Sisco and Alexine Lesko through The Sisco Fund for Enterprise Management.