In February, Stratford Middle School and High School campuses showcased their high-level business and innovation skills by participating in the first all-Spring Education Group Entrepreneurial Incubator Competition, Startups@Spring. Congratulations to our three Stratford award-winning teams and all of our Stratford School participants! In the middle school category, the TrashTalker team from Stratford Pleasanton Middle School was awarded 1st place, and Stratford Mission Viejo Middle School’s team Freshmind took 3rd place. While Stratford Preparatory Milpitas’ Valeria team took home 2nd place in the high school category.

The startup competition is designed to encourage entrepreneurship, creativity, teamwork, multi-disciplinary thinking, and communication skills. This year was the first network-wide event that featured students from 10 high schools and 21 middle schools, who came together to present their startup ideas to a panel of respected industry judges. The theme was Artificial Intelligence, and students were encouraged to consider the most optimistic aspects of AI and incorporate them into fresh product or service ideas.

Armed with their best ideas, Stratford students were excited to pitch their creative concepts to a prestigious panel of judges that included Craig Martell, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation; Rebecca Lin, CEO of ToroBio, and Co-President of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs; Amrit Saxena, Founder and CEO SaxeCap and a prolific angel investor in Silicon Valley; Ken Snyder, Executive director of the Shingo Institute in the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University; and J Provine, CEO and co-founder of Aligned Carbon, among other esteemed business leaders.

Teams were judged on the feasibility and potential of their ideas, clarity of presentation, originality, and alignment with the year’s theme. They were also assessed on their financial understanding, market strategy, research depth, and their ability to respond to impromptu questions. Our winning team projects solved problems using AI for timely issues such as recycling (TrashTalker), creating a real-time first-aid resource (Valeria), and reducing food waste (Freshminds).

Cash prizes were awarded to the winning teams, who donated their prizes to the charity of their choice.

Team TrashTalker from Stratford Pleasanton Middle School

Stratford Prep Milpitas’ Team Valeria donated their prize money to Robotics for All to empower local communities to pursue Robotics, AI, and STEM education. Stratford Pleasanton’s Team TrashTalker donated their winnings to two charitable organizations: Direct Relief, which provides humanitarian relief, and their local MCC Community Center. Stratford Mission Viejo’s Team Freshmind chose to donate to Easterseals as a way to honor a sibling. These charitable contributions from each team align with Stratford’s commitment to charitable giving and community service through its ongoing giving initiative, Stratford Cares.

With the first, now-annual, Startups@Spring competition behind them, students are already looking ahead to next year’s competition, adding it to the roster of regional science fairs, Future Cities Engineering competition, math and world-language competitions that give them the opportunity to explore solutions to current and future problems in a real-world setting. 

We continue to be inspired and in awe of the level of work that our students are doing. Events like these ensure that our students will be agile and well-prepared for the evolving job market. This hands-on experience gives them the confidence and the tools for future success. 

To learn more about Stratford’s advanced Middle and High School programs, visit StratfordSchools.com.