Social Innovation Challenge Past Winners

Meet the Spring 2024 Winners

Challenge:  Reimagining Higher Education

The Spring 2024 Social Innovation Challenge invites students or student groups to propose innovative solutions in the arena of reimagining higher eduction. A student perspective is imperative in the pursuit of ideas that are sustainable, innovative, grounded, and relevant in a rapidly changing world.

Isaiah Chantaca won first place in the challenge for his proposal on Building Native Community Through Mentorship (The Red Path Program). From his proposal:  The Red Path program aims to partner with students of the Freshman and Sophomore level with students of either Senior or Junior status, with a mixture of Alumni, to navigate the crazy world of higher education. The program will feed itself with new students who wish to mentor and then allow for the next class of students to come into the program ready to start the cycle again, and continuing to grow the Native population here on campus to allow for not only more outreach for those students to their communities but events for Native students to be held in more volume here on campus, creating that sense of community and involvement.

Colleen Janey was the first runner up with her proposal The Motherhood Empowerment Group:  Supporting Student Moms.  From her proposal:  The Motherhood Empowerment Group would help reduce the barriers and strains student mothers experience. It will accomplish this through three aspects: facilitated conversations and activities that build community through peer connections, developing and harnessing their inherit abilities, and providing childcare for Women and Gender Equity Center events. Ultimately, the program will help mothers at CSUSM build their sense of community with others of a similar identity, incorporating their personal strengths and experiences to create goals for their future, and achieve social mobility after college.

Blake Fullerton was the second runner up in this challenge with his proposal for Athena, an AI phone calling/SMS integration built of of canvas.  From Blake's proposal:  It calls the student and personally reminds them of the assignments, along with data about the assignments that canvas has, (Description, points, turned in, upcoming assignments, etc..).  Along with reminders, it will be able to do other commands, such as update calendar, schedule meetings, sent texts...The people that will benefit the most from this will be students and adults that have a short attention span and have a hard time remembering what they need to do, hindering their education.

Fall 2023 Challenge:  Accessibility

Students were tasked to propose an innovative solution around accessibility.

Poorvi Datta won first place in this challenge for their innovative approach around accessibility. They will be graduating in May 2024 with a Master's degree in Biology. Poorvi's research and focus are on how to realistically get STEM classrooms to universally provide (edited) captioned recorded lectures. Read more on Poorvi's research here!

Erin Hila and Liam Martinez Torres made up the 2nd place team.  Erin is on track to graduate in May 2025 with a degree in Criminology and Justice studies.  She is a passionate activist for, and member of, the disabled community.  Erin strives to better educate others on matters of equality and improve the lives of those affected by disabilities when she can.  Her partner on this project, Liam, will graduate in May 2025 with a degree in Electrical Engineering.  He enjoys applying his technical skills to real-world issues and using technology to empower and make a lasting, meaningful impact on the lives of others.

Spring 2023 Challenge:  Mental Wellness

Students were tasked to propose an innovative solution for recognizing mental wellness. Mental wellness is a deeply rooted and under resourced social problem. The Innovation Hub is proud to announce the visionary concepts proposed by students.

First place winners, Briana Thallmayer, David Boudreaux, and Kelton Argraves, are creating an artificial reality experience that pushes the boundaries of what mental wellness could be presented as.  Students create a visual representation of where you want to be at and where you're at mentally. 

Second place winner, Jorge Miranda, proposed an application that empowers users to navigate the complex digital landscape with confidence and clarity. "Reality Check" swiftly detects fraudulent information, misleading content, and digital alterations.