A Berry College student recently won $14,000 to further her design to help comfort people with sensory processing disorders.
Sarah Roberts, a freshman animal science major from Roswell, Ga., was one of several students earning prizes in The Gadget Project, a new competition at Berry. Her gadget, the Bro Hug, is a special jacket that combines style and functions in a way to provide feelings of deep pressure for those with sensory processing disorder.
“The benefits are going to help me going forward, because I was given the resources to start my own company,” Roberts said.
The Berry Center of Student Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Development sponsored the competition, in which students create a functional prototype and present to a panel of judges in hopes of winning prize money. A gadget is a tangible tool or device that has a specific function or assists in completing a task. It cannot be a service, artistic work, food or fashion. Students of all levels and majors worked with mentors during an 8-week process, turning their ideas into prototypes ready for the market.
In addition to Roberts, three students received $2,000 to further their ideas.
- Lili Sams created the Slash Shield, a protective sleeve designed to reduce woodcarving injuries. She is an art major from Athens, Ga.
- Thomas Harlin created HyperShades, glasses that allow a person to perceive colors typically impossible for the naked eye to see. He is a creative technologies major from Marietta, Ga.
- Megan Alexander created the Third Eye Camera System, a Bluetooth camera that attaches to a machine (such as a stump grinder) to give the user a better view of their task. She is a biology major from Marietta.
The PITCH competition, also sponsored by the Center of Student Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Development, is coming up in April. It is a Shark Tank-like competition where students and Gadget Project winners present their final idea/product and compete for cash prizes totaling $30,000.
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Written by Public Relations Student Assistant Jaden Childree
Office of Public Relations
