Three Syracuse University teams — CLLCTVE, Forum Foods and Strive — competed over spring break in the global regionals of the prestigious Hult Prize. Selected from 200,000 applications from around the world, the SU teams traveled to Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto to pitch to investors, industry leaders, social entrepreneurs and NGO global leaders to advance in the $1 million Hult Prize global competition.
The Syracuse University teams were
- CLLCTVE, competed in the Boston regional. The team includes Kelsey Davis (Newhouse), Lucia Baez (Newhouse) and Ryan Williams.
- Forum Foods, competed in the San Francisco regional. The team includes Morgan Eaton (Maxwell), Lainie Duckworth (Maxwell), Jaime Ciesinski (Whitman), Jack Ramza (Whitman and Newhouse).
- Strive, (pictured above) competed in the Toronto regional. The team includes Audrey Miller (Maxwell), David Fox (iSchool), Emma Rothman (Falk) and Nick Barba (Whitman). Miller and Rothman ran the Syracuse campus competition, and Miller is the official Syracuse University campus ambassador.
“The opportunity to compete in the Hult Prize was a fantastic experience,” said Audrey Miller, Syracuse University Hult Prize campus director. Miller participated last summer in a Hult Prize retreat at Hult Castle near London, along with other campus directors from around the world. “It was wonderful to get feedback on Strive’s pitch from experts and executives, as well as networking with more than 30 global college teams. Hearing other ideas to solve such a pressing issue was very inspiring. It was particularly interesting to hear ideas from many countries, from Mexico to Morocco. We were proud to represent Syracuse University — especially after organizing the SU on-campus competition in November.”
The Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University, part of SU Libraries, sponsors the Hult Syracuse University annual competition. This year’s Hult Prize Syracuse campus judges included: Adria Fitch, City of Syracuse Innovation Office; Liam Kirst, City of Syracuse Office of Neighborhood and Business Development; Mark Jackson, Syracuse University Office of Community Engagement; Derek Watson, founder of Kalamata’s Kitchen; and Amy and Adam Fazackerley, CEO and COO of Lay-n-Go, LLC. Past Syracuse University Hult campus winners included Thrive Projects, which went on to the regionals in Boston, Farm to Flame, which went on to the regionals in Boston, and Drop Top, which went on to the regionals in Toronto.
Kelsey Davis and Ryan Williams at Boston Hult Competition
Travel for the teams to travel to San Francisco, Toronto and Boston this year was generously supported by the Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, SA and SU Libraries.