Five presentations competed for the title of ‘Greatest Idea’ Tuesday afternoon.
Finalists Naomi Johnson; Cole Brentham and JP Festa; Joesph Austin; Nathan McClain; and Dylan Benac had nine minutes to present and five minutes to answer questions by the senior leadership team Tuesday as a part of the Students’ Association’s Greatest Idea Challenge. The senior leadership team includes Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, and his senior level advisers.
Before the final round, 10 semi-finalists presented their ideas in-person to the strategic review team. This team consisted of several department heads, deans and upper level administrators.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing all the presentations develop from the beginning to final stages,” said Rebecca Dial, political science and finance major from Lexington, South Carolina and president of SA. “It will be cool to see which idea is picked and to see it implemented.”
First place will receive $2,000 and will meet with administration to have their idea implemented. Runner-ups will receive $1,500 and $1,000 respectively.
Joesph Austin, SA executive treasurer, said he is excited about the idea he submitted to build two water fountains around the Lunsford Foundation Trail.
“They are designed identically to the existing limestone on the Lunsford,” said Austin, senior accounting and pre-law major from Houston. “They would also help with ACU’s sustainability effort by decreasing the amount of water bottles and also being a water bottle refilling station.”
Other finalist ideas include Campus Center food delivery, a mentoring program, the ability to use Bean bucks off-campus and more.
“The Greatest Idea Challenge really puts administrators and students on the same level for dialogue to happen,” Austin said. “Administrators are really as open to talking to students as much students want to talk to administrators – it’s just finding the process for dialogue to happen.”
Dial said administrators get to hear about the issues that students care about.
“Although it might not be a winning idea that actually gets implemented, it still brings up issues to the administrators’ attention that they may not have thought about before,” Dial said.
The winner of the Greatest Idea Challenge will be announced in Chapel on April 19.
