STEM Capstone Students Wrap the Year with Innovation at Demo Day X

This year’s Demo Day X: The STEM Finale was the perfect sendoff for our seniors in STEM Capstone — a year-long journey of tackling real-world problems with tech, empathy and creativity. Students didn’t do this work in a vacuum. Throughout the year, they collaborated with incredible community partners like First Energy, the Akron Zoo, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Thomarios, The University of Akron and GOJO. These partners offered insights, feedback and mentorship that helped bring student ideas to life.

 

From start to finish, students followed a full design cycle: they identified problems they actually cared about, conducted deep research, interviewed real users, analyzed root causes and brainstormed potential tech-based solutions. Then they got hands-on — building low-fidelity prototypes, testing them with users, collecting feedback and refining their designs. The final projects were thoughtful, user-centered and seriously impressive.

 

At Demo Day X, students pitched their work Shark Tank-style to a panel of judges who “invested” in their projects with Demo Day Dollars. Two teams stood out as this year’s winners and won the most investments. 

 

This duo tackled mental health head-on with a Chromebook-based tool that connects to a physical kiosk in schools. It helps counselors quickly spot students who might be struggling and offers personalized coping strategies based on what that student is dealing with. Best part? It connects students to help without pulling them out of their day.

 

This team set out to protect student-athletes from shoulder injuries with a compression shirt that includes built-in shoulder braces. Their design provides extra support without limiting motion — perfect for sports like football and basketball where shoulder injuries are common.

 

We’re proud of all our Capstone students for dreaming big, digging deep and showing the power of student-led innovation. Congrats to the winners and to every team that took the stage — you made this finale one to remember.