ETI is Solving the Cultural Assimilation Problem for Teen Immigrants

Jun 14, 2018 | Students, Ventures

Valentina Maza and Tatiana Romero are students at William Penn High School in New Castle, Delaware. The pair participated in the 2018 Diamond Challenge with their concept ETI, Education in Times of Immigration, a venture that aims to provide Spanish-speaking students coming to the United States as teens with resources such as English language lessons and cultural assimilation. The pair were one of 55 teams out of 700+ submissions to make the semifinal round and received $2,000 in total funding along with the opportunity to connect with young entrepreneurs and mentors from around the world.

“We are solving the problems of language, new culture, separation, and documentation,” said Valentina. “We identified this issue as we are our own prototype, we faced these same issues when we first came to the United States. I am the only Venezuelan in my school, and these barriers create obstacles to success.” The point was echoed by Tatiana: “Speaking the language is the first step in communicating with your teacher, we want to empower the students to have the opportunity to raise their voice and participate in their own success in the United States.”

Valentina and Tatiana first pitched ETI at the 2018 Diamond Challenge Dover pitch site in March. The pair moved onto the semifinals of the competition at The Summit. Though ETI did not make the finals, the promise of the venture and the passion of the founders was evident. “Because of the Diamond Challenge, we had the opportunity of speaking to the Delaware Spanish Commission about the problem and we also met with the Department of Education,” said Valentina. “The Diamond Challenge has been a life changing opportunity and it was an honor to participate and become a semi-finalist.”

“I never imagined I would be able to participate in something as amazing as the Diamond Challenge,” said Tatiana. “I could not speak English and doing this now for my community is a dream come true.”

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No matter where our Diamond Challenge alumni go, we are constantly amazed by how they continue to make an impact on the world for the better.

Would you like to be featured in our next highlight? Click here.

About Horn Entrepreneurship

Horn Entrepreneurship serves as the University of Delaware’s creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement. Built and actively supported by successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, Horn Entrepreneurship empowers aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs as they pursue new ideas for a better world.

Follow Horn Entrepreneurship @udhorn and check out our entrepreneurship competition for high school students @diamondchalleng.

Young entrepreneurs partner with large company

Sep 2, 2016 | Press, Students, Ventures

Diamond Challenge winners combine knowledge with experience to improve spelling bee studying tactics

Former University of Delaware Diamond Challenge finalists Shreyas Parab and Sriram Hathwar have a new partnership focused on developing their online study tool, Spell for Success.

Shreyas is a 16-year-old from Aston, Pennsylvania and a junior at Archmere Academy High School in Claymont, Delaware. He has appeared at the Scripps Spelling Bee twice, along with 3 appearances at the Metlife Spelling Bee, and 4 appearances at the North South Foundation Spelling Bee. After he retired his placard, he went on to give 4 TEDx talks about his experiences and also start a tie company. That tie company has more than $15,000 in sales.

Hathwar is a 16-year-old from Corning, New York and a junior at Corning Painted-Post High School in upstate New York. He has competed and won several spelling bees, including the Scripps National Spelling Bee, MetLife National Spelling Bee, and three national NSF competitions. His prowess earned him a meeting with President Obama.

Both students formed the idea for their start-up, Spell for Success, after finishing their last spelling bee together.

“I’m the kind of kid who’s good at reading a book in the corner.” Parab says, “We had this weird talent at being good at selling our potential product as well, I wasn’t just a nerdy kid I was a nerdy kid who could also be successful, and that’s how we got into Spell for Success.”

Knowing his idea was a great one, Parab followed in his older brother’s footsteps and entered himself and his friend Hathwar in the University of Delaware Diamond Challenge competition.

The University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship created the Diamond Challenge to provide high school students and young entrepreneurs from around the world with an outstanding opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship while putting their ideas into action. Applications for the competition are now open and being accepted.

Participants in the Diamond Challenge gain valuable first-hand experience with conceiving an idea for a new business or social venture. First they test the idea by talking to potential customers and gathering evidence to validate the viability of their business or social impact model. Then they pitch their idea by submitting a written concept and presenting to a panel of judges.

Participants earn money through this competition. The prize pool this year is $100,000 dollars. Two years ago, Spell for Success earned $8,000 dollars for first place when the prize pool was just $50,000.

Spell for Success is an online product that provides a mass amount of words often used in spelling bees to study from. Parab and Hathwar offer their lifetime experiences as national spelling bee participants, and feel as though the online webpage is far more helpful and affordable than the lists being sold for over $500 apiece traditionally used to study with.

Parab explained the concept, “Studying tactics can get better and better, flash cards, nomadic devices, they save you time and effort, and get better results out of it, so why not a website with all that?”

They have partnered with a leading online platform that creates questions for various subjects ranging from AP exams to SAT practice to any practice questions students across the country might hope to find.

Together, Spell for Success and their partner hope to launch the new section of the website by January of 2017.

The Diamond Challenge is part of the Paul and Linda McConnell Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative.

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About Horn Entrepreneurship

Horn Entrepreneurship serves as the University of Delaware’s creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement. Built and actively supported by successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, Horn Entrepreneurship empowers aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs as they pursue new ideas for a better world.

Follow Horn Entrepreneurship @udhorn and check out our entrepreneurship competition for high school students @diamondchalleng.

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting for: Social Venture Finalists

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting for: Social Venture Finalists

Feb 26, 2016 | Students, Ventures

Diamond Challenge is thrilled to announce our Social Venture Finalists! From February 17-24, we held public voting to see who you all thought was most worthy of taking their concept to the next step. The votes were combined with the team’s written concept and video pitch scores. We received over 2,400 votes to help determine the top teams that will travel to Newark, Delaware in April to pitch during the Diamond Challenge final round at the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit. Congratulations to the finalists:

  • Do it for Bunica: “Do it for Bunica” is a website in which migrant workers from Moldova can find and pay local youth helpers to assist their elderly parents with household chores.
  • Fresquiticos: Fresquitos is healthy alternative to soft drinks that will provide short and long term solutions to economic and social disadvantages in Costa Rica.
  • MentourU: MentourU is a web-based service that creates a network of college students as a resource for high school seniors moving onto higher education. High school students can ask for genuine advice, information regarding their major, or simply about life on the campus.

Thank you to all of the amazing participants and to our Social Venture Competition 2016 sponsor Capital One, for making this year’s new competitive track a reality! We hope to see everyone at this year’s YES event, either in-person or via the Live Stream on www.diamondchallenge.org!

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No matter where our Diamond Challenge alumni go, we are constantly amazed by how they continue to make an impact on the world for the better.

Would you like to be featured in our next highlight? Click here.

About Horn Entrepreneurship

Horn Entrepreneurship serves as the University of Delaware’s creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement. Built and actively supported by successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, Horn Entrepreneurship empowers aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs as they pursue new ideas for a better world.

Follow Horn Entrepreneurship @udhorn and check out our entrepreneurship competition for high school students @diamondchalleng.