Youth plan ways to improve city during innovation camp
To a crowd of parents, mentors and judges, each team of pre-teens and teens presented their big projects. Their goal was to use innovative ideas to connect Chattanooga with businesses on the other side of the ocean.
The business plans and groups were part of Eitanim Chattanooga, a weeklong innovation camp for seventh to 10th graders hosted through the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga at the Edney Innovation Building. Each group of four kids designed plans to improve their city by bringing Israeli businesses to America, such as coffee products, ice cream, vegan meat and tech companies.
Anya Parambath, 13, was part of the winning team, which presented an idea of 3-D printing meat. She said her group all loved to eat meat and spend time outdoors, so they wanted to promote a healthier option to meat.
She said her favorite part of the week was getting to know her teammates, even when it meant focusing on the work less and playing games more.
“All of us love to take breaks,” Parambath said. “Sometimes we would take longer breaks than we should [have].”
The Eitanim program is a nationwide program through the Israeli American Council. The programs typically run a full school semester or a year, with an innovation camp at the end, said Chen Dahan, the Jewish Federation’s Israeli emissary, who organized the event. Also, the camp is typically for Israeli or Jewish children, but Dahan said she opened it to any area youth.
Over the week, the 16 children met with local innovation leaders, played brainstorming games, visited businesses throughout Chattanooga, learned about presentations and designed their business plans, Dahan said.
The camp was supported by local groups such as the Enterprise Center, Co-Lab, EBP Fiber Optics, The Innovation District and Erlanger Health Systems. Dahan said she got support every time she went to a community member to ask about talking to the children, Dahan said.
“Everybody said, ‘Yes.’ Seriously. No one said, ‘No,’” she said.
Aimee Mushik, whose son Chris participated in the camp, said what the children learned this week will benefit them in school and in careers for years.
“The opportunity to learn these skills — researching and presenting — at a young age is very important,” Mushik said.
Each child on the team had a specific role to research and present on, similar to any other startup. Joshua Riano was in charge of marketing for his team. Part of his job was researching costs to buy advertising in a Jewish magazine.
Dahan said she hopes students will continue to be involved in their communities after the camp and continue to think of new ways to solve problems.
“I hope they open up to innovation, that they can think about thinking differently,” she said.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Find him on Twitter at @News4Mass.