The festival winners then walked away with a seed funding pledge from the district and a “makerspace makeover” for their schools.
Before they made their final pitch, the students spent two days at a workshop to incubate their ideas and develop their pitches. They learned the right way to hold a microphone and how important it is to make eye contact when making a presentation. The elementary schoolers jittered before making their final pitch Saturday on an auditorium stage, where a table full of blue trophies stood as a reminder of what was at stake.
By the time they got on stage, their practice kicked in and in a Shark Tank-esque flourish, the five teammates ended their presentation with a tagline shouted in unison: “We are caring for our community one coat at a time.” “Pokémon Go got everybody moving,” 9-year-old Aidan McMillan said. “Can we make a game like that to get everybody picking up trash?”