The Hub’s ground floor set up for the speed-pitch competition. Photo from Thomas Broderick.
Northwood’s Innovation Hub was well-lit on Wednesday night, January 28th, as fourteen students filed down from the Hub’s top floor. They made up the Entrepreneurship class, taught by Mr. Tom “Brody” Broderick, who had organized a pitch competition for his students. This night was especially important for the class, with $1200 dollars on the line for the winning pitch. The winner will be announced at school meeting on Monday, February 2.
Ms. Jill Walker, one of Northwood’s science faculty, participated as a volunteer judge for the pitch competition. “I loved hearing what you students have come up with. It was very moving to me how creative and thoughtful many of the projects were, and what a cool experience that is in high school to be thinking about, and even for some of the kids, implementing this already. So I thought it was very interesting,” she said.
Students engage for the first round of pitches. Photo by Mr. Broderick.
“One of the things I love about being a teacher is that it gives me hope for the future, right? Seeing what you guys are doing makes me really proud. It’s amazing where you guys have been taking this already in high school. I’m so not an entrepreneur, so it’s beyond my wheelhouse, but it is still very interesting.”
A common challenge for both judges and students was the time constraint of the competition. “A number of the kids were rushing, and I didn’t have time to go back and ask the questions I wanted to ask,” said Ms. Walker, but said that she “got more accustomed to the process” the more pitches came by. Sasha Luhur ’27, who pitched her hearing aid device, commented, “Time is obviously a huge constraint. There are all the things we need to get into the pitch, but you also want to engage well with the judge, obviously. It challenged me to think on my feet and adapt to the situation as the night went along.”
Harry Vant ’26 pitched his real estate flipping company. “I liked that I could get feedback on my project, and people could tell me what I could improve on it,” he said.
Harry Vant ’26, left, pitches his real estate business. Photo by Mr. Broderick
Reflecting on the experience, Harry added, “For me and Ricky [Henrik Hinse ’27], we had real estate related companies, so it was hard for us to answer some questions like ‘What’s your next step?’” He also spoke about preparing for the pitch, saying, “Before, I felt quite nervous. But then afterwards, I found out I really liked it, and it was quite easy to do. I’d probably like to do it again.”
