Nov 27 - Nov 29
Thanksgiving Vacation
All Day
FTX Million Dollar Charity Competition Finals and Crypto Summit
January 13th 2022
Pine Crest Upper School Social Entrepreneurship students Esther Lin ’22 and Daniel Rutstein ’22 have been named finalists in the FTX Million Dollar Charity Hackathon.
The FTX Foundation represents the charitable arm of FTX, one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges, that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies. The competition asks high school students to develop an innovative product or service to improve mental or physical health.
In the first round of competition, Esther and Daniel were each awarded a $15,000 scholarship for “FuguBox.”
FuguBox is a monthly art therapy subscription box that provides adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and mental health challenges the opportunity to explore art media and new crafting techniques with specially curated supplies. Additionally, the subscription service provides a creative exchange program to connect subscribers and allow them to express themselves through art.
“Unlike art instruction, art therapy is conducted with the aim of building life skills, addressing deficits and problem behaviors, and promoting healthy self-expression,” said Daniel. “The role of art therapy for autistic children is to support their emotional well-being, and build on their visual and unique strengths while at the same time, developing foundational academic, art, play, and social skills.”
“Art therapy is especially helpful to adolescents as a form of nonverbal expression while navigating the social and emotional challenges of teen life,” continued Esther. “Typical art therapeutic elements such as sensory experiences with sight and touch may improve social behavior, flexibility, and attention-abilities of autistic children.”
Esther and Daniel will pitch FuguBox for the $1 million dollar prize to bring FuguBox to life on March 13, 2022 at the FTX Arena in Miami.
Congratulations, and good luck!
