The Walter Center for Career Achievement is excited to announce the 2025 Connect Challenge Pitch Competition results. Finalists pitched their ideas to a panel of judges at the Connect Conference on Friday, April 4th, 2025.

The Connect Challenge is an annual idea pitch competition for IU College of Arts + Sciences students. Students are invited to present their innovative ideas, and the winners are awarded a prize package designed to help bring their ideas to life, including up to $2,000 in scholarship funds and a part-time membership to The Mill.

Creative Endeavors 🎭

Winner:

Don't Worry About Me by San Mi Mi Thant, Sadhika Alampally, and Pavithra Krishnan

"Don't Worry About Me" is a short film that sheds light on the experiences of international students at universities in the United States through a fictional, yet deeply authentic narrative based on real student interviews conducted on-campus at Indiana University.

Runner-up:

Home Grown Opera by Preston Rogers

Home Grown Opera is a website that includes online resources for currently existing and prospective local opera troupes. Information such as starting a non-profit, musical scores, guides, and marketing and educational materials would help support the creation of local opera troupes throughout the country.

Nonprofit and Social Good 🤲

Winner:

Taptic by Drushya Musham

Taptic is a mobile app that detects over 300 sounds in real time and converts them into visual notifications, vibrations and flashlight alerts on smartphones. Designed for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, Taptic is a portable solution that allows its users to be aware of their surroundings at anytime, anywhere.

Runner-up:

Relate XR by Izzy Branam

Combining AI and VR, Relate XR is a digital therapeutic, enabling substance use disorder patients to "time-travel" to meet two versions of themselves 15 years in the future: one in active addiction and another in recovery. Through visual representation, users would encounter both feared and hopeful versions of their future selves.

Startups, Technology, and Inventions ⚙️

Winner:

Z-Byn by Zachary Unes and Andrew Capper

Z-Byn is a tray that attaches to urinals in men's restrooms, providing a designated spot to dispose of pouches, gum and other waste. This helps maintain the cleanliness of a restroom by providing a convenient way to dispose of trash and allowing facility clean-up staff to quickly dispose water materials found in urinals.

Runner-up:

Evervive by Brian Rosen

Evervive is a better-for-you energy drink that uses a combination of high-quality ingredients and electrolytes to provide consumers the energy they need for the day in a healthier way. With an energy blend of natural ingredients and stevia as a sweetener, this drink provides antioxidants without the jitteriness of other caffeine sources.

This year's Connect Challenge was generously supported by The Mill, IU Innovates, IU Ventures, the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and the Shoemaker Innovation Center.Thank you to all students that pitched their innovative ideas, as well as the panels of judges who participated in the Challenge. And a huge congratulations to all of the 2025 Connect Challenge winners!