Calhoun, Boeing, Mazda-Toyota, and Nextflex to Host Shark Tank-style Competition
February 25, 2021Calhoun Community College, Boeing, and Mazda/Toyota Manufacturing have teamed up with Next Flex to host its annual Flex Factor Final Pitch Event for select area high school students. The “shark tank-style” pitches will be held on Friday, February 26, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm, in the Collaboration Center at West Limestone High School, 10945 W Schoolhouse Rd, Lester, AL.
FlexFactor is a learning program that is designed to immerse student audiences into the blended worlds of technology and entrepreneurship. Students are split into small teams to identify a real-world problem that has meaning to them, conceptualize a hardware device to address the problem, identify a target market for the product to be sold, as well as engage in customer discovery research. To guide device conceptualization and business model development, students had the opportunity to engage with industry advisors from Boeing, Mazda/Toyota Manufacturing as well as academic officials from Calhoun Community College.
According to Ashley Robison, Calhoun Recruitment Coordinator, A total of 19 teams consisting of 8th – 10th grade students of West Limestone High School worked tirelessly to design their hardware devices using Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE). As part of their experience, the students also took part in a virtual College Day event at Calhoun to learn about STEM opportunities offered through the College in areas such as advanced manufacturing, health sciences, and cybersecurity. Students also participated in a virtual Industry Day with Mazda Toyota Manufacturing (MTM) employees and Calhoun FAME (Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education) students who shared about their careers with MTM.
To wrap up the competition, five teams will make their final pitches to a panel of representatives from Calhoun, Mazda/Toyota Manufacturing, North Alabama Works, West Limestone High School, and NextFlex.
“Calhoun is excited to be a part of this exciting annual initiative,” commented Dr. Joe Burke, Calhoun Interim President. “Each year, the pitches become more innovative and the students gain valuable analytical skills, which are vital for the STEM industry,” added Burke.
The goal of the program is to expose students to the world of advanced manufacturing while inspiring, attracting, and recruiting them to choose a career path within the industry.
To learn more about the FlexFactor program, visit https://www.nextflex.us/learning-programs/flexfactor/.
About the FlexFactor Workforce Development Program
