Pierce – American College of Greece, with the approval of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, organized for the 6th year, the second phase (Greek final – Pitch Event) of the Youth Entrepreneurship Competition “Diamond Challenge.” The winning team was the BrewCrafts team of the students of the Lyceum of Psychiko College: Giorgos Parthenis (B’ Lyceum), Nikolas Tsiflikiotis (B’ Lyceum) and Marilena Kamoudi (IB DP Y2). The team will represent our country in the international final, which will be held, under the auspices of the University of Delaware, from 25 to 27 April 2024 in the United States of America!
Four teams of Pierce students have received equal awards for:
- The best presentation of their idea: hapi life (Maria Lucia Mandelou, Ioanna Vlachou)
- The idea that promotes sustainability for the environment and people: GreenHaven (Charilaos Zygogiannis, Byron Perakis).
- The most original idea for solving a social issue: Rescue Ready (Marianna Argeiti, Philippos Pandelis, Mikaela Manouilidi, Angelos Kyriakidis Bibas) and
- The best business plan and the most complete documentation: BioBuds (Loukas Baklezos, Georgios Kokkinakis)
The theme of this year’s competition for Greece was “Social Innovation”. Each idea presented aimed to contribute to solving a social problem and to making a positive contribution to citizens, society and the environment. Eight teams participated in the final, which were evaluated in Phase A of the competition (judges from the University of Delaware) and advanced to Phase B, held at the Pierce Theatre on Saturday, February 17, 2024.
The teams of the Greek final were:
- BioBuds: Loukas Baklezos, Georgios Kokkinakis (Pierce – The American College of Greece)
- BrewCrafts Co.: Georgios Parthenis, Nicholas Tsiflikotis, Marilena Kamoudi (Athens College –Psychico College)
- De-Light Traveler: Sophia Papazisi, Eliza Dragona, George Tsiflikiotis (Athens College – Psychico College)
- GreenHaven: Charilaos Zygogiannis, Byron Perakis (Pierce – The American College of Greece)
- hapi life: Maria Lucia Mantelou, Ioanna Vlachou (Pierce – The American College of Greece)
- RedLoop: Konstantinos Georgalas, Vasilios Georgantidis (Pierce – The American College of Greece)
- Rescue Ready: Marianna Argeiti, Philippos Pantelis, Mikaela Manouilidi, Angelos Kyriakidis Bibas (Pierce – The American College of Greece)
- SMheart: Varvara Vassiliou, Kassandra Andreou, Eleni Tsugou (Pierce – The American College of Greece)
The teams presented their ideas and answered the questions of the Judging Committee members:
- Katerina Voutsina, PhD, Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship, Area Coordinator in Entrepreneurship Management pathway, School of Business and Economics, Deree – The American College of Greece
- Dimitra Darda, General Manager, EMEA Device Partner Solutions Sales, Microsoft Corp.
- Peggy Velliotou, Partner, KPMG Advisors AE
- Katerina Saridaki, Director of Capsule T Travel & Hospitality Accelerator
- Vasilios Katsouros, Director at the Institute of Language and Speech Processing (ILSP), “Athena” Research Center
The event was moderated by Mr. Haris Daskalothanasis, Executive Director for Outreach and Student Retention.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Competition for their excellent ideas and outstanding presentations!
Many thanks to the members of the Judging Committee for their input and helpful advice to the children!