Make-A-Thon

2021 Make-A-Thon Winning Teams

GRAND PRIZE: An app that connects grocery stores with food-based charities to reduce food waste. Grocery stores upload edible inventory that is set to be discarded so that food charities can recover the food for distribution in the community. This helps address both food waste and food insecurity issues.

Second Place: A self-contained mini water treatment plant that will allow rural communities to harvest rainwater and use surface water as a drinking water source. The product uses a centrifuge to separate heavy particles, a sand and gravel filter to separate fine particles, and a UV-C lamp to disinfect the filtered water.

Third Place: A network of smart composting bins on campus that collect data for waste management, as well as assist in the sorting of compostable waste. This data can be used to gamify the process of composting, encouraging students to compete with one another to see who can compost the most.

What Is Make-A-Thon?

Impactful Ideation. Rapid prototyping. Real-world teamwork. That’s the NC State Make-A-Thon experience.

Students compete in teams to create the best solution to a sustainability challenge. Whether it’s about water, waste, energy, transportation or food — that’s up to you and your team to decide.

At the end of the competition, you will pitch your idea to judges from the community and local companies. And, yes, there are prizes for the winning teams: $2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second place and $500 for third place.

Participants talk about Make-A-Thon — what to expect and why it’s worth it

What’s the challenge?

At the beginning of Make-a-Thon weekend, each team chooses a sustainability challenge theme/subject to address and narrows in on a specific scale such as individual, campus or community. For example, a team might choose to create a solution that helps individuals reduce personal water use or that helps the community incorporate more sustainable food practices. At the end of the competition, you will pitch your idea to judges from the community and local companies. And, yes, there are prizes for the winning teams.

When does it occur?

Make-A-Thon happens in January. The 2022 dates will be announced in fall 2021.

Who can participate?

Make-A-Thon is open to any NC State student – undergrad or graduate. You register as a team. Teams must consist of three or four people, and at least two of those people must be from separate colleges within NC State. If you already have a team formed, you will be able to register as a team. If you have a partial team formed or it’s just you, no worries. We’ve set up a channel on Slack so that you can find others looking for teammates.

But what about COVID-19? How’d you host the competition in 2021?

First, the event featured an all-virtual event format. This enabled us to continue offering the competition while reducing the risk of COVID-19. While we missed the energy of being in-person, we were excited to continue to offer many of the competition’s hallmarks. Teams had access to meeting with industry mentors and experts via an online format, and the science fair-style pitches to judges were submitted by teams via video. Make-A-Thon also continued to offer $3,500+ in cash prizes. Another change was the opportunity for teams to work on real-world sustainability challenges submitted by local communities. For those who preferred a more open-ended option, teams could also choose any sustainability challenge related to energy, water, waste, transportation or food.

What skills do I have to have to participate?

A think and do attitude is all that’s required. A true interdisciplinary event, Make-A-Thon brings together students with all kinds of backgrounds and skills. Some code. Some design. Some write. These diverse perspectives and skills will enable unique solutions to campus sustainability challenges. Bring whatever skills you have. Collaboration will take care of the rest.

Are there prizes?

Why, of course! Prizes include $2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second place and $500 for third place.

I’m not a coder or a designer. Will that matter?

You don’t have to be a coder or a master of all things technology. It’s likely that someone else on your team may have skills in that area. Plus, we’ll have training sessions and mentors/experts around to help you.

How do I sign up?

Each team will choose a prompt for which they will develop a solution. Prompts will be updated for the 2022 Make-A-Thon.

Below you will find the prompts for the 2021 competition. Teams had the option to create their own challenge or select one a real-world challenge submitted by local government agencies.

Option 1: Choose Your Own Challenge
This prompt is open-ended, allowing teams to focus on a sustainability challenge of their own design: How might we more sustainably use water, energy, waste, transportation or food? … as individuals? … on campus? … in our community, country or world?

Option 2: Food Security Among Seniors
While food insecurity impacts more than 1.6 million North Carolinians of all ages, hunger among senior adults over age 60 presents unique challenges. Many seniors have limited access to government-supported food programs such as SNAP due to being on a fixed income. Seniors who cannot drive or do not have access to transportation are often unable to access local food pantries, and organizations that deliver food, such as Meal on Wheels, historically have long waiting lists. Even when seniors are able to access food pantries, oftentimes available items are high in salt and sugar. Such items do not align with the dietary needs of seniors with chronic medical conditions, like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Chronic dental disease can also make eating some food items difficult. In addition to the challenges, seniors with impared mobility or memory are often afraid to cook for fear of injuring themselves. What can be done in Wake County to reduce food insecurity among our most vulnerable seniors?

Option 3: Farmers Market and Food Security
The Wendell Farmers Market, located in downtown Wendell, NC, provides growers, harvesters, bakers, makers of prepared food and vendors an opportunity to sell locally grown and produced products to the community. Farmers markets such as this provide residents with access to fresher food, support local farmers and mitigate the impact of transporting food from other states or countries. These markets also present an opportunity for community outreach. While food insecurity impacts all geographics areas of North Carolina, counties located in the northeastern corner of the state boast the highest density of food insecurity. The Town of Wendell is located on the eastern border of Wake County, making it uniquely positioned to reach those communities hardest hit by hunger. How could the town use the Wendell Farmers Market to reduce food insecurity in the area?

Option 4: Transit Deserts in Non-Urban Areas
The farther you live from an urban area, the harder it can be to find reliable transportation if you cannot afford to drive yourself. Public transportation primarily serves populated areas with higher ridership. In satellite communities outside of Raleigh, for example, public transportation may be limited to a rush hour commuter bus line that runs on weekday mornings and late afternoons. There isn’t much connection to other areas of Raleigh, and as a result, everyday quality of life trips to the grocery store, doctor’s appointments and other services are difficult. Even rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are hard to use because they don’t reliably serve areas that are less densely populated. Lack of access to reliable and affordable transportation reinforce inequalities, restrict upward mobility and can create safety issues when people are forced to walk along roadways not equipped with safe pedestrian infrastructure. How might we better connect people with sustainable transportation solutions for better quality of life?

Community Engagement

The magic of Make-A-Thon happens when our student teams connect with community members. Sign up to mentor students for a couple hours or to judge the teams' prototypes.

Make-A-Thon

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Community Engagement

Sponsors

Event Sponsors

Event Hosts

Previous Winners