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Pine Crest Upper School Students Compete at Diamond Challenge
March 10th 2022
The Pine Crest Upper School Social Entrepreneurship class traveled to Houston, Texas to compete in the Diamond Challenge recently.
The Diamond Challenge is the world’s top-rated entrepreneurship competition for high school students. The competition was created through Horn Entrepreneurship, which is the creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement at the University of Delaware. Teams from around the country pitched their social innovations and business models to industry leaders for a chance to compete at the global summit in April where 55 countries will be represented.
The Social Entrepreneurship class had three teams competing, with the Ecopods team of Alexandra Maxwell ’23, Isabella Koopman ’23, Emma Gould ’23, Isabella Lotenberg ’23 finishing the event in first place.
Ecopods addresses the issue of plastic waste within the hospitality and cruise line industry. The team came up with Ecopods, a two by two inch, pre-portioned biodegradable pod containing soap. The pods’ outer membrane is composed of 90% wood pulp, making it water-soluble and biodegradable. Inside each pod is a water-activated, three-in-one powder soap. Once water penetrates the pod, the outer membrane dissolves and the powder soap liquifies.
“Each group member is passionate in our own way about sustainability and being conscientious of our direct and indirect impact on the environment,” said Isabella Koopman ’23. “We realize it is up to our generation to make the necessary systemic changes to reverse the damage we have caused our planet to endure. We also recognize that completely eliminating all plastic use in the world is unreasonable, so we researched and found that the hospitality industry is one of the most overlooked, major contributors to single use plastic waste. The world generates about 300 million tons of single use plastic waste annually, and half of that is generated by the hotel and cruise industry. We were inspired to find a solution to minimize plastic waste in the hospitality industry, paving the way for a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
Congratulations to all!
