Showcasing the Future: The Emory Student Founder Showcase

Hilderbrandt, Kate

The Hatchery, Emory Center for Innovation, hosted the first annual Emory Student Founder Showcase on March 24, 2022 where over eighty attendees enjoyed seventeen student pitch presentations.

The showcase celebrated the groundbreaking work of Emory students representing all nine Emory colleges and schools. Each student venture presented was supported by The Hatchery through one of three grant and coaching-based programs:

  • The Hatchery Discovery Incubator: Individualized idea-stage grant and coaching to explore problem/solution fit;
  • The Hatchery Development Accelerator: Peer-to-peer accelerator and prize seed funding to explore solution/market fit;
  • The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program: Fellowship grant and mentoring to support business modeling and sustainability.

The event empowered students to practice and improve their pitching skills and allowed audience members to provide encouragement and feedback. The Showcase also united and celebrated the Atlanta innovation ecosystem leaders who have contributed to supporting The Hatchery and this next generation of innovators.

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Ravi Bellamkonda, gave opening remarks before the student presentations started. The presentations were divided into four impact areas, presented simultaneously in different spaces throughout The Hatchery, allowing audience members to select one impact area for their showcase experience.

The impact areas and presentations were:

Innovations in Community Flourishing

  • Linh Le (22T, MDiv), Hospitality.com: An app that connects sojourners with local people who can help accustom them with their new country. This project was supported by The Hatchery Development Accelerator.
  • Ronald Allen (23T, MDiv), POP Debate: A church and community critical thinking curriculum solution for youth groups and classrooms grades 6-12. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.
  • Nithya Narayanaswamy (23C, BS & BA), Plastic Free Emory: A student- led initiative dedicated to phasing out unnecessary single-use plastics on Emory’s campus through education, outreach, policy change, and a Break Free From Plastic Pledge that was recently signed by President Fenves. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator and The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program.
  • Simran Modi (22L, JD), InvestRE: A fractional real estate investment platform that makes investing in real estate accessible to all. This project was supported by The Hatchery Development Accelerator.

Innovations in Arts and Media

  • Jasser Ahmed (22C, BS), Volare: A curated platform that helps artists sell their art on merchandise. This project was supported by The Hatchery Development Accelerator.
  • John Gulledge (23PhD) & Kelly Duquette (23PhD), Puck Project:
    A Shakespeare performance learning program for kids facing housing insecurity in the Atlanta metro area. This project was supported by The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program.
  • Pratisth Pandey (23B, BBA), Vicinity: A media aggregator web browser extension and app that tiers news from the global, national, and local levels while separating national news from left- to right-wing outlets to provide a less biased news approach. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.
  • Yifei Gao (23C, BA), Art for Heart: An idea foundry, knowledge-design space, 501(c)(3) certified nonprofit organization at the intersection
    of art and activism. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator and The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program.

Innovations in Education

  • Adway Gopakumar (23C, BS), Liberation Through Education:
    A nonprofit organization that raises funds and provides necessary tools for underserved children across the globe to obtain a foundational primary education. This project was supported by The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program.
  • Jordyn Turner (22C, BA / 22B, BBA), ed(you): A platform that offers targeted tutoring and personalized resources for K-12 students to do better in the classroom and in life. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator, The Hatchery Development Accelerator, and The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program.
  • Kelsey Park (25B, BBA), CourSwap: A peer-to-peer campus meetup marketplace for textbooks. This project was supported by The Hatchery Development Accelerator.
  • Marina Michaud (25PhD), Practica: A free, interactive problem set for learning and studying, because cost should never be a barrier to quality educational resources. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.
  • Rachel Harmon (22PhD), Developing Scholarship Support for LGBTQ+ Survivors of Human Trafficking: A scholarship and mentorship program designed to fit the unique needs of LGBTQ+ survivors of human trafficking as they pursue higher education. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.

Innovations in Health Care

  • Akash Shanmugam (23C, BA), Vejovis Analytics: An organization that empowers community health centers by transforming health care delivery with a data-driven approach. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.
  • April Ballard (23PhD), The Dignity Pack Project: A program that follows a harm reduction approach to homelessness by distributing hygiene, menstrual health, sexual health, and PPE products to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.
  • Katie Kartchner (21N, MN), ClearHealth: A software application that eliminates expensive surprise medical bills by using AI to instantly guide consumers through their health care coverage. This project
    was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator and The Hatchery Founder Fellows Program.
  • Rae Hunter (22PhD), The Hunter Institute - The Celia R. Rowland Cancer Research Program: A pipeline program to increase diversity in cancer research, providing access, experiences, and mentorship for underrepresented students in STEM. This project was supported by The Hatchery Discovery Incubator.

 The Hatchery was honored to support these student ventures through this exciting event and throughout the year with innovation programs, grants, creativity and collaboration space, and a community of like-minded innovators. To read more about the Emory Student Founder Showcase and the student presenters, read this story on Emory News Center.  If you would like to know more about The Hatchery, please visit our website here. ​​​​​​​