Gates Team Wins University of New Hampshire Design Competition

(above) Cardigan students at the Community Changemaker Challenge, sponsored by UNH and the Design Challenge Network, a NH-based education nonprofit. (photo by Derrick Loughlin)

“A recruiter in your pocket, a consultant in your ear, and a skills instructor for your future.”

This is the tagline for EmployEASE, a company developed by a Cardigan Gates Futurist Innovation team that won first place at the Community Changemakers Challenge at the University of New Hampshire this spring.

The Community Changemaker Challenge, held annually since 2016, is “an ideas-based design competition open to all high school students throughout New England. Students identify a local, national, or global problem; create an innovative solution to address it; submit a paper and video; and come to UNH in May to explain and defend their work in front of a panel of judges.” Four teams from Cardigan attended the competition and delivered outstanding presentations alongside 30 high school teams from 13 schools across the state, including Phillips Exeter Academy, Governor’s Academy, and Proctor Academy.

The four Cardigan teams––including team EmployEASE (Mana Petrini ’25, Eli Heffer ’25, Matthew Blanchard ’25, and Ryan Sands ’25)––were part of a new year-long Gates course for eighth and ninth graders in which students are charged with developing business plans for products and services that aim to solve current real-world problems. Students research their competition, conduct consumer reviews and interviews, and develop prototypes when applicable.

“When we started the program, we originally wanted to solve homelessness,” recalls Mana. “But that changed as we did our research and talked to entrepreneurs and experts in the field. We learned a lot that helped us narrow our idea to something that was feasible and valuable.”

Their final business plan includes three phases for their clients. The first phase is an online application that provides clients with individualized job listings based on information gathered in an inquiry form. The second phase provides an online consultant specifically trained in the field of work the client is going into. The third phase includes a co-op model that connects college graduates with real-life work, preparing them for actual jobs in the future. Clients would also have access to micro-credentialing, two to four-week classes that target specific skills a person might need in a specific field. One example might be a course in classroom management for a client seeking a job in education.

“The micro-credentialling was the key to our success at the competition,” says Ryan. “We were lucky to get a lot of feedback throughout the year from entrepreneurs and members of the community, and we used that information to refine our ideas.” 

“Their hard work, teamwork, and thoughtful preparation shone brightly at the competition,” agrees Director of Gates Jenny Sabados. “Their presentation was polished, and they performed with poise during the Q&A session with the judges. I’m so proud of all the Futurists and the innovative thinking they have put into developing solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.”

Unfortunately for the world, all four members of the EmployEASE team graduated from Cardigan this spring and are off to make their mark on secondary schools throughout New England; the boys will no longer be together to further develop EmployEASE. The skills they learned, however, will go with them, helping them to develop their next big idea with global impact.

Watch the promotional video created by the EmployEASE team: