This past weekend, the University of Wisconsin-Stout (UW-Stout) hosted its first full-fledged Make48 competition. Teams of high school and college students from across Northwestern Wisconsin gathered at the university's impressive FabLab to tackle a 48-hour innovation challenge focused on construction safety.
Make48 is a national invention competition that pushes teams to brainstorm, design, and prototype a new product in just two days. This year, UW-Stout partnered with Derrick Building Solutions to challenge participants to create solutions addressing construction hazards.
Eight teams, each composed of two local high school students and two UW-Stout students, dove headfirst into the challenge. With access to UW-Stout's cutting-edge fabrication tools and technology, plus guidance from dedicated technicians, the teams worked relentlessly to bring their ideas to life.
And the Winners Are...
After an intense 48 hours, three teams emerged victorious:
Best Innovation: The Knights from Beloit Memorial High School (Scarlett Kirkpatrick and Audra Glosemeyer) and UW-Stout students (Corey Hedlund and Sam Koland) impressed the judges with their innovative approach to construction safety. They will move on to Nationals in Kansas City this November to compete!
Best Pitch: The Rice Lakers from Rice Lake High School (Michael Wyse and Daniel Kneifl) and UW-Stout students (Andrew Amoah and Evan Wood) delivered a winning pitch that showcased their product's potential impact.
Best Agilities©: The Eagles from Case High School in Racine (Muhammad Hammad and Rastko Marinkovic) and UW-Stout students (Caleb Korson and Roman Tremper) demonstrated exceptional adaptability and utilized The DeBruce Foundation's Agilities successfully throughout the competition to solve the challenge.
The UW-Stout Make48 event was a testament to the power of collaboration, creativity, and hands-on learning. A huge thank you goes out to all the participating teams, their dedicated chaperones, and the organizers who made this event possible. A special thank you to the UW-Stout leadership team including: Chancellor Katherine Frank, Seth Hudson, Mike Cropp, Beth Hein, and Scott Revoir for being very supportive of the competition and the Make48 team.
Stay tuned for a full recap with more photos and highlights from this exciting competition!