Spark: a Problem Solving Showdown 

 

Date: March 29th, 2015 

 

Cost: Free

 

Where:

Knight Auditorium
Babson College
231 Forest St. 

Babson Park, MA 02457

 

Duration: 10AM - 5PM
Lunch and snacks will be provided to students

 

Issue: Access to Clean Water

 

Process:

High school students will be placed in teams of about five students, with a mentor team that will provide them with feedback. They will be expected to develop a solution to the issue of the lack of clean water. Note that a more specific case study wil be given in order to narrow down ideas and provide a clearer focus. Students will have time to create their idea, formulate a presentation and present to the judges.

 

More Information

Summary

SPARK: Problem Solving Showdown is a 7 hour problem solving competition aiming to allow high schools students to solve a prominent social issue, in this case the lack of access to clean water. The event will be held on March 29th from 10AM-5PM in Knight Auditorium on Babson College Campus. We anticipate to have 15 mentors, allowing for 5 teams of students and mentors with a max of 25 students. Mentor teams consist of one Babson, Wellesley, and Olin College student.

 

Timeline

9:30 AM-10 AM- Check-In Period

Students can arrive, meet their team, and make sure all paperwork is in order (waiver form, media waiver form, etc.). At 10 AM, all students will go sit in the middle of the auditorium for the kick off.

 

10:00-10:10 AM- Kick off Event

Go over rules, quick overview of the case, preferably have a speaker if possible to provide inspiration to the creative thoughts.

 

11:30 AM DELIVERABLE DUE

Basic outline of their idea

 

12:00 CRISIS

The first crisis will be thrown in where students may have to adapt their idea or add on another component

 

12:30- Lunch Delivery

We will have catering from Sodexo such as sandwiches in order to provide a working lunch so the students can eat and work.

 

12:45-DELIVERABLE DUE

Target Segmentation

 

1:15 PM-CRISIS

This will be the last crisis

 

1:45 DELIVERABLE DUE

Marketing--how will you sell target market on the idea?

 

2:30 DELIVERABLE DUE

Financial Estimates for the cost of the project

 

2:30-4 PM- Planning

Creation of presentation and final touches on the idea

 

4-4:30- Judges Presentations

Presenting to the judges. There will be one set of judges. Each team will have 3 minutes to present and judges can ask 3 minutes worth of questions.

 

4:30-4:45- Deliberations

Judges deliberate to make a decision on the best teams and write down comments to provide feedback to each team on their ideas. During this time period, students will reflect and think about their ideas as whole.

 

4:45-5 PM-Ending

Announce winners, give out prizes, and end the event

 

*Note that deliverables are not set in stone, ideas can be changed as time progressed, just suggested milestones to ensure each team is working hard. Feedback will be given on the deliverable.

 

Ending Deliverable

Presentation (PowerPoint, Poster Paper, etc.) with

• Product, service, business, etc. that aims to increase access to clean water

• Mission Statement and Goals of Idea

• Marketing--How will idea be sold to the target market

• Research that idea is feasible

• Target Segmentation if further than given in case study

• Suppliers (who is providing your service, where is your product coming from, etc.)

• Estimated Cost of Project

  • know will be vague and estimate, but just to get them thinking