(Photo credit: Gulliver).
Gulliver students Tadeo Acosta-Rubio, Class of 2019; John DeLappe, 2019, and Leonardo Gorgatti, 2020, have been named winners of the 2018 Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge for their original product concept, Väska.
This marks the second consecutive year a group of Gulliver Prep students have won the competition’s teen track. This year, all three finalists and three of the five runners-up are Gulliver students.
Väska, an innovative luggage design, offers a compartmentalized travel wardrobe carrier on wheels which aims to streamline packing and unpacking and keep clothes organized. The luggage, which is still in the concept stage, also features a compartment for dirty laundry. Acosta-Rubio, DeLappe and Gorgatti are no strangers to travel and so, when they came across a barrier to stress-free preparation, they aimed to solve it.
“Our International Business and Entrepreneurship program provides students with the problem-solving skills necessary to take an idea and turn it into a real-life prototype, and eventually a market product,” said Daniela Brenha, the program’s department chair. “The entrepreneurship component nurtures students’ abilities to create and develop business ideas, while the international business aspect teaches them how to analyze the many factors at work within our complex global business environment.”
Gulliver’s strong showing at the competition exemplifies the school’s community values, mission and strategic vision. From an early onset, 21st Century such learning skills as collaboration, creativity and critical thinking are nurtured through interactive projects like First Grade Shark Tank, during which students just entering grade school are encouraged to present their business ideas and think about how their ideas can be brought to life. The school places a strong emphasis on experiences that place students at the center of learning and allow them to connect and apply curriculum content in real-world settings.
In high school, students have the opportunity to further explore their entrepreneurial spirit with Gulliver Prep’s International Business and Entrepreneurship Signature Academic Program. Through the program, students develop a stakeholder view of business that emphasizes sustainable ethical behavior and an understanding of the value that our future business leaders offer society.
Last year, Gulliver students Susana Cappello, 2018; Carolina Baigorri, 2018, and Victoria Roca, 2017, won the Challenge with their business plan for Smart Straws, a cocktail stirrer that detects the most common date-rape drugs: GHB and Ketamine. The concept garnered widespread media attention including coverage in USA Today, Inside Edition, Forbes, Teen Vogue, and radio stations and news outlets across the world. The trio has finalized their design and are working with a manufacturer to begin production.
Now in its 20th year, the 2018 Miami Herald Business Challenge drew more than 150 business plans from adults and teens in South Florida. In addition to the winning team, Gulliver had two additional finalists and three runners-up:
Finalists
Aptad, interchangeable shoe soles with cleats specific to turf, grass and indoor sports surfaces, created by Karim Rahman, 2020, Johnny Ehrling, 2020, and Ben Abrahams, 2020.
SOL, an app-supported sensor system that detects when a child has been left in a car, created by Carolina Freund, 2019; Alexandre F. Roth, 2019, and Santiago Vergara, 2019.
Runners-up
Air Jet, a portable air purifier, created by Sean Moore, 2019; Jack Copeland, 2019, and Sebastian Hernandez, 2019.
Allertek, a portable food-allergen testing device, created by Carolina Thompson, 2019; Daniel Bayer, 2019, and Ricardo Sanchez, 2018.
Eagle Eye, an automobile camera system that eliminates driving blind spots, created by Mathieu Puech, 2018; Lauren Gold, 2018, and Jacqueline McCloskey, 2019
For more information about Gulliver, please visit www.gulliverschools.org.
