What difference can one community make in just a few days? The answer: a big one! The Community Impact Challenge is back for its second year, bringing together students to show the power of collective ideas and action. Dr. Kim Duncan announced the return of the challenge in early February, inviting students to identify and address meaningful issues within the school community—but with an added twist on last year’s challenge. With the opportunity to implement their winning idea, generously supported by a New Hampton alumnus, the second class of ambitious groups embarked on a journey of creativity, problem-solving, and social impact.
The Challenge:
Identify a meaningful problem on our campus that impacts our sense of community. Then, think boldly about how AI could shape your solution. Could AI help uncover hidden insights about the problem? Could it power a creative solution to bring us closer together? Or is AI itself part of the challenge we need to address? Explore, innovate, and propose a solution that strengthens our connections and transforms our shared experience.
Exploring the Possibilities
This year, three projects stood out for their potential impact. Each of these teams received prizes for their submissions, and the first-place team will receive an additional allotment of seed money to fund exploration into the feasibility of their project.
First-Place Project: Huski App
Presented by Izzy Baskins
The Huski app proposal recognized the benefits for students to have an adaptive resource for the information they rely on every day. The vision behind this app relies on AI to help quickly adjust schedules, for example, thereby avoiding the need for emails and supplying a go-to center for all things Husky Nation. Primary features would potentially include a personalized calendar, on-campus navigation to resources and locations, and a chatbot for questions.
The Judges’ Notes: “Izzy did a great job of explaining the scope of what could be accomplished with the seed money from the challenge. As a new, mid-year student, Izzy was keenly aware of the rush of information when starting at a new school, and not always knowing where to find the answers to many of her questions. She was clearly very passionate about this solution and that came through in her presentation.”
Second-Place Project: Eating Well
Presented by Mary Ludwig, Eric Zhang, and Chase Graves
The “Eating Well: Nutritional Needs Program” highlighted support for students and community members looking to learn more about the food choices they are making on a daily basis. Citing the importance of nutrients and making good choices, combined with the lack of individual expertise needed to optimally balance one’s diet, the team proposed an advanced method of sharing dietary information at each meal. Being more knowledgeable about ingredients and food selection can help support people in different ways, from performance to just learning what makes us feel our best.
The Judges’ Notes: “Mary, Eric, and Chase’s idea that emphasized the health of our community was extremely well thought out. They understood the workload increase that this would have on the dining hall staff and therefore suggested a student leadership position that would take on this new responsibility. Very smart, big-picture thinking.”
Third-Place Project: New Hampton EchoNote
Presented by Nick Fukuyama, Harry Jenkins, and Matteo Vecchione
EchoNote identified a way to take lecture notes to a new level. Their idea for a note-taking app on the teacher’s technology would ideally provide students with all the necessary information, including in-class discussions, without losing time putting their own pens to paper (or to iPads!) The benefits of this in the classroom could create further student engagement and immersion in discussions, while also ensuring that a student who may be absent would have access to the resources needed to continue their understanding of the class before they returned at the next lesson. The team also cited the possibility of easily translating the notes into additional languages for our international student population.
The Judges’ Notes: “The EchoNote pitch was very pursuasive. They wove in some humor and student anecdotes, laying the ground work to emphasize the need for their solution. At the end, they annouced that the entire presentation had been recorded with an AI note taker and displayed the transcription on the screen as proof of their concept.”
Looking Ahead
Each of these projects demonstrates a thoughtful understanding of the school community from a student perspective and offers fresh solutions to address them. This year’s groups continue to spark meaningful discussions and initiatives to enhance the school community. Through student-driven innovation we are able to dream a little bigger about the integrative experience of academics, student life, and programs at New Hampton School.
