WHS students win Hyland showdown

WHS seniors Jack Bogart, Steve Columbro and Nick Irwin won Hyland Software's Innovation Showdown in March. Junior Sneha Ramachandran was also a member of the team.

Westlake High School's Computer Science Principles class team of Nick Irwin, Steve Columbro, Jack Bogart and Sneha Ramachandran took first place at the Hyland Software Innovation Showdown, held at their headquarters in Westlake on March 19.

Their entry, titled "Suitable," was selected as the winner among 16 entries from all over Northeast Ohio. "Suitable" is a virtual online apparel shopping experience, where customers can see how different clothes will look on them without having to go to a store, using their home computer or mobile device. It uses a 3D model able to be viewed from 360 degrees.

The competition started with Hyland president and CEO, Bill Priemer, kicking off the event with a keynote speech, then student teams of four collaborated with Hyland professionals to brainstorm, create and develop their ideas and started crafting a business plan. The theme for this year was “How Can You Use Technology to Solve a Business Problem?”

Throughout the week, students were to develop and hone their business plan and create a basic prototype for presentation. Then, at the end of the week, student teams had one more chance to practice and refine their presentations with their Hyland mentors. The teams then formally presented their ideas and were judged on their business plan, prototype and presentation. Four teams were selected for the final round of judging, in which they presented their prototypes in front of their peers and full panel of judges.

Each member of the winning team received an Apple iPad, and were recognized at a company-wide meeting at the Hyland headquarters. The students also had an opportunity to shadow and have lunch with a Hyland employee.

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Volume 8, Issue 7, Posted 10:02 AM, 04.05.2016