Bluejay tank hosts third annual competition, meet the winners

The third annual Bluejay Tank competition took place in person for the first time, awarding three students a total of $3,000 to advance their ideas to the next level on Oct. 27. 

Bluejay Tank is a competition where students with a business or non-profit organization can pitch their ideas to judges, who decide which students will take home the cash prizes.

“This fall, we hosted our first in-person competition as our previous Tank competitions were virtual due to the pandemic,” said organizer Martin Gahbauer. “The live version was exciting because it brought a whole new dimension to the student’s presentations.” 

The judges chose three winners; the first place winner received $1,500, second $1,000, and third $500. 

First prize winner Christian Vanstedum presented his dating app Spark, which he created a year ago to solve the problems he saw in dating apps. Vanstedum wanted his app to help people make real connections with others. 

“Artificial connections and friendships are formed on social media, so you don’t really know who they are,” said Vanstuedum. “I think the best way to actually build a meaningful relationship with someone is by connecting in person.” 

Vanstedum received some assistance from Patrick Yanahan, adjunct faculty member and EU entrepreneur in residence, in perfecting his presentation and some guidance on what the judges were looking for. 

Lauren Laughlin won second place for coming up with a nonprofit organization that creates interactive modules for healthcare providers to familiarize themselves with the needs of LBGTQ+ patients to provide them with the most supportive care possible. 

Laughlin interviewed friends and acquaintances who identify with the LBGTQ+ community and their experiences within the healthcare industry. 

“I had a detailed discussion about their experiences in healthcare,” said Laughlin. “[We talked about] the types of discrimination they felt they’ve been subjected to, circumstances where their interaction with a provider has been really positive and what made that positive, as well as circumstances where they felt like the interaction was really negative, even if it wasn’t intentionally so, and what affects that had on them personally and their relationship to healthcare.” 

Laughlin also researched the different types of discrimination that exists in the healthcare industry and different funding modules for nonprofit organizations. While she initially thought that her idea was too big due to it requiring a significant amount of funding, she was pleasantly surprised with winning second place. 

Third place went to Mark Picardi, who proposed his idea for College Cleaners, a kit for college students to buy to help keep their dorm rooms clean and organized. The kit includes a Swiffer, paper towels, a feather duster, Clorox wipes, garbage bags, dust pan and broom, and Tide Pods. Picardi wanted to create an easy and convenient kit and one that caters to every student. 

“With a lot of college students you have a variety of extremes: The neat freak and the super lazy student that only cleans up when they have to,” said Picardi. “That’s actually how I designed the kit around where I could meet both markets — it allows me to hit those two extremes and everything in between.” 

Picardi enjoyed being able to show the value his product had to judges and how it could benefit themselves and students.