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The companies were real, the challenges were real, and so was the work that the students did.
During the showcase that the organization District C held for their Teamship program on July 25, three companies heard pitches on how to remedy their unique problems from two groups of North Carolina students.
The 21 students spent the prior week in Durham getting to know their businesses and each other, and researching for their pitches as a group. Businesses plan to communicate with District C if any of the ideas get implemented.
Teamship is an internship program through District C where students are paired in groups to solve real-world problems for the businesses they are assigned to. It is open to high school students who attend a private, home, or public school in North Carolina.
The Teamship Showcase is an accelerated version of the program where students live on the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics campus for a week while working on their pitches. They visit their assigned companies and work with coaches in the program in partnership with Spark NC.
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“What is so special about this program, and what is special about these students in particular is that this group has committed to getting not good at this work — but getting great at this work. And that work being collaborating in teams, solving these problems that we heard about today,” Karen Cho, District C programs manager, said.
The three companies that sought assistance from the students were Wolfspeed, Windlift, and QL TechWorks. Windlift wanted new ways that they can build a positive perception of offshore wind technology. Wolfspeed said they wanted a targeted, industry-specific recruitment strategy for high school students. And QL Techworks wanted to know what information they needed to include in their development process so their tool fits the culture in the country of Qatar.
Presentations to each company went on simultaneously in different rooms at the American Underground coworking space. The participant’s ideas were shared in a round-table format with their group’s coach and moderator. This method was used to simulate an actual business meeting instead of a school presentation, program leaders said.
One group of students pitched that Wolfspeed should produce a short marketing video featuring some of the younger employees at the company in order to entice high school students.
Delisha Hinton, relationship manager at Wolfspeed, said that it was great to get a student’s perspective on a current problem.
“In addition to it being a problem that’s really focused around their age group and that audience group, I thought this students presentations was thoughtful, and it was detailed oriented. And it gave new perspective. And then it also solidified some current projects that we’re working on,” Hinton said.
QL Techworks develops tech solutions to help people who are neurodivergent communicate. Students highlighted the difference between how people in Qatar interact versus people in the United States. They created a pamphlet and slide deck detailing some taboo topics, customs, and body language to consider when QL Techworks is making their app.
“I think definitely researching Qatar as a country was pretty hard, because there’s not that much information where you can just go on Google and search things up,” Esha Penmasta, a participant from Wake County, said. “So it did take a while to get the right information we needed, but we were able to do it.”
Cho said that she observed a lot of the hard work from students during their week in Durham. She saw everything from scrapping a whole idea, thanking each other for their contributions after a disagreement, and staring at a whiteboard for answers.
“You got to be prepared and able to admit that you’re wrong, that your idea was not the best one, and that others may have something better than you, but you have to be able to say, hey, your idea is what we should go with. Here’s how I can incorporate my stuff. And here’s what I think we should do,” Owen Chidester, a partcipant from Asheboro, said.
Representatives from the three companies said they would keep in touch with District C as they consider the students’ pitches. Cho said the students’ ability to work together will prepare them for the future.
“This is tough work, but because of your commitment to this work, you are not only better at this than I am sure a lot of us were at your age, but you are better at this than a lot of people who are out there today,” Cho said.
Only students that participated in a Teamship program before can apply for the showcase. More information about this partnership between District C, Spark NC, and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics can be found here.
