Winners Announced in First Pioneer Pitch Contest

Undergraduate and graduate students showcased creativity, entrepreneurship and problem-solving in Sacred Heart’s first-ever Pioneer Pitch Competition

Key Highlights

• Sacred Heart University hosted its first-ever Pioneer Pitch Competition, organized by the management department in the Welch College of Business & Technology
• Students from across the University—both undergraduate and graduate levels—competed by pitching innovative solutions to real-world market and social challenges
• Competitors received guidance from faculty and industry professionals, including mentors from SCORE, to refine their ideas into viable products or services

Students from across Sacred Heart University participated in the University’s inaugural Pioneer Pitch Competition, hosted by the Department of Management, Jack Welch College of Business & Technology. The event challenged competitors at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to address a real-world need with creative and bold solutions.

Professionals helped students refine their ideas for a product or service that addresses a clear market or social problem. In December, the finalists presented their pitches to faculty and industry leaders for the opportunity to win a cash prize to take their ideas to the next step.

Rodney Osumo ’28 won first place. An immersive media & mixed reality major, Osumo created a pitch for an immersive, mobile, open-and-explorable map of Sacred Heart that gamifies student tours. “The mentorship was invaluable,” Osumo said, noting that Sean Heffron, assistant dean for student success, and Grace Guo, management professor, advised him on turning something he enjoyed making and playing into something others would find useful.

He added that the organizers also brought in professional mentors from SCORE, a group that serves small businesses, including Dennis Noel, who offered advice on how to make his project successful from a business standpoint.

Chris Napolitano ’28, a dual-degree management and business economics major, took second place. He pitched an idea called Convenient Campus Collections, which is a reverse vending machine for bottle deposits, catered to college campuses. Napolitano described the most challenging part of the project as juggling between all his classes and extracurricular activities while creating his pitch.

Alyssa Flanders ’27 placed third in the competition. A graduate student earning her master's degree in occupational therapy, she created Intelligent Response of Informational Support (IRIS), a health care AI chatbot designed to provide accurate, detailed medical information and help reduce the spread of online misinformation. Its database is built upon medical textbooks, journals and evidence-based research. “It is only in the beginning stages,” Flanders said of IRIS. “I am thankful for the opportunities, guidance and support Sacred Heart University has given me the past four years here, and I can’t wait to see what my future at Sacred Heart University has in store for me.”

Felipe Cortes, associate professor of management, who envisioned the event with professors Guo, Michelle Malone and William Zhou, described the inspiration behind the Pioneer Pitch Competition. “We wanted to create an experience that brought an innovative mindset to life in an exciting and engaging way,” he said. “With a generous donor making the prizes possible, we were able to build SHU’s first Pioneer Pitch Competition as a platform where students could step forward, share their vision and feel empowered to pursue the innovative paths they imagine for themselves.”

What’s next?

Osumo plans to use the prize money to further develop the prototype for his immersive map, with the goal of deploying a functional demo by the spring semester. Napolitano intends to take his idea to the Connecticut Pitch Competition and collaborate with SCORE to further refine his bottle deposit concept. Flanders hopes to seek investors to secure the rights to specific medical textbooks and journals for IRIS to learn from, and to develop a website to increase awareness of the project.

Pictured (insert), from left, are judges with Rodney Osumo (first place), Chris Napolitano (second place) and Alyssa Flanders (third place).