Students pitch Shark Tank ideas for borough
POTTSTOWN >> Students from The Hill School and Pottstown High School recently “competed” on ways to improve Pottstown in an effort modeled on the television show “Shark Tank.”
Twelve entrepreneurial young men and women from both schools recently pitched five different team ideas for endeavors to benefit Pottstown while providing a positive social impact.
Their proposals were presented during the “shark tank” style event hosted at the Hobart’s Run office as the culmination of a seven-week pilot program for the Pottstown Area Social Innovations Lab (PASIL) program, led by Twila Fisher, director of community and economic development for The Hill School and Hobart’s Run.
The PASIL was funded in part through a two-year grant from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation. Fisher noted that the students worked on the projects in their after-school hours. The Hill students were participants in the school’s afternoon community service program, and the Pottstown students were drawn from the Molding Men organization.
About 30 invited community leaders attended the project presentations and served as judges. Each project required a preliminary budget and a specific “ask,” and no pitch could last longer than five minutes.
The judging was based on categories including mission statement, social innovation (or how well the project would creatively address a social need), the governance structure of the proposed entity, budget, and the effectiveness or “salability” of the speeches and PowerPoint presentations. Students also were put on the spot by questions posed by the judges.
While all the teams earned the respect of the spectators — individuals representing businesses, educational settings including Alvernia College and Montgomery County Community College, professions, and nonprofits — the top-ranked project involved creating a computer and gaming space for local youths at the Olivet Boys and Girls Club/Rickett’s Center.
The student team — Hill students Louis Fleisher and Sasjha Mayfield — found that Pottstown youths want a safe space in which to socialize as well as gain computer skills. They also wanted to help the Olivet BGC attract more teen members.
The second-highest scoring project was dubbed “Sellifyit.com.” This team envisioned an e-commerce site focused on helping Pottstown businesses grow their revenue by managing their online marketing presence.
The students — Tassilo Heinrich, Calvin Chang, and Nick Fan, all of Hill — said Sellifyit would take a 5 percent fee (as opposed to the 10 percent charged by E-bay), and use those payments to generate funding for Pottstown-related concerns that could range from supporting the borough fire departments to a designated nonprofit.
A proposal designed to help Edgewood Cemetery fund its ongoing maintenance was the third-highest scoring idea. The multipronged vision, shared by Pottstown High School student David Van Wallace, Jr., would involve special fundraising events ranging from flower sales to a “Taste of Pottstown” restaurant food sampling event.
But the biggest and, the students believe, most sustainable idea would be to pursue a Community Supported Agriculture model in which small garden shares (perhaps via raised beds) created from the open, unused Edgewood land would be rented to borough residents allowing them to grow their own vegetables. (Not present but contributing to this team effort was Hill student Haroon Feda.)
While one employee would need to be hired to oversee the gardens, the rents would generate income that could be used for cemetery maintenance. In addition, cemetery mowing costs would decrease as the open land would be turned into gardens.
At Edgewood, the success of this project — based on CSAs elsewhere in the country — would depend upon solving issues such as the lack of running water at the cemetery for watering the plants. The students said a system of rain barrels could perhaps be established.
Another idea that was passionately pursued was the re-establishment of a Pottstown Public Pool to “bring Pottstown together and get kids and youths off the street in the summer,” said a team representative.
The students — Pottstown students Marquis Bartlett, Omarion Paschall, and David Starks — discussed whether it would be feasible to find a buyer who would purchase the North End Swim Club, rebrand it as a community pool, establish daily rates, and find other ways to raise funds for pool maintenance and to cover the many expenses of running a pool.
The fifth group offered a plan for what they dubbed the “Pottstown Knockout 5K Mud Run” that would get Pottstown residents involved in a fun physical activity while raising money through registration fees and sponsorships — funds that would be given to a Pottstown nonprofit and/or a new downtown business.
The Mud Run innovators — Jaheim Gregory and Wilchon Seward — said the race would showcase High Street businesses along the route and offer a “mud and color” component at an obstacle course toward the end of the race.
“Cities across the globe have integrated social innovations labs into their urban fabric, often with measurable results,” Fisher said. “As Pottstown continues to find resourceful methods to help it rebuild, making room for a think tank-style lab made sense here, too.”
The next group of new Hill and Pottstown PASIL participants, who began their think tank work after their respective schools’ Thanksgiving holidays, might continue to build on the first cohort’s ideas, or they may come up with their own pursuits.
“At this phase, the PASIL goal is to get the students’ creative juices flowing, and encourage them to think about how they can make a real difference in Pottstown,” said Fisher. She welcomes feedback from Pottstown’s entrepreneurs and investors – not to mention financial backing and other support — for any of the ideas presented.
Fisher is working with Montgomery County Community College to create a PASIL course that Pottstown and Hill students can take for college credit.