Winning ideas

Photo: U.S. Bank Vice President Tracy Hoart, Tony Torres and his son, Joanne Tokle, College of Business acting dean.

Photo: Tracy Hoart, Hugo Rayo, Will Cannon, Kerry Casperson, Jared Barrott, Joanne Tokle.

This December, the College of Business held its annual U.S. BankPitch Off event where 23 teams of hopeful entrepreneurs presented their product and service ideas to panels of judges from throughout the community. These teams had a chance to win a share of $10,000 in cash prizes sponsored by U.S. Bank. The event served as a practice for students applying for the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge (IEC) in Boise where they will compete to win a portion of $100,000, if selected. This year, there were two runners-up who won $500 each, one second place winning team who won $1,000 and two first place winning teams who won $2,000. One team also won a Best Support Material Award with a prize of $250.

The team winning second place was “BedWedge” consisting of College of Business students, Michael Magee and Dylan Orr. Their product was a bike rack that fits into the bed of a truck to allow for more room. One of the first-place winning teams was a team of Pharmacy/Master of Business Administration students. The team consisted of Hugo Rayo, Will Cannon, Kerry Casperson and Jared Barrott with product “H2 Therapeutics” which is a continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP) machine that delivers more enriched oxygen, making it easier for users to sleep.

The other first-place winners were College of Business Master of Healthcare Administration student, Tony Torres, and his wife Kelsi Torres, with their idea “Sharp Sense,”which is a medically-centered, sensor device used to send out an alert when hazardous waste containers, filled with needles, reach their capacity.