Stark Tank: Middle School Edition brings our entrepreneurial contest to Stark County middle schools, encouraging students to develop creative ideas for the community and empower participants to develop meaningful life skills.
The program is developed and implemented by TodTod Ideas, Stark Education Partnership, Stark County Educational Service Center, and Strengthening Stark and models the pitch competition after the hit TV reality show Shark Tank. Local entrepreneurs and community leaders offer their time as Sharks to give the teams feedback and vote on first, second, and third place winners. To bring their projects to life, winners receive mentorship to continue working on their idea as well as $500, $400, and $300 respectively while the remaining participants receive $100.
This year, we had 78 middle schoolers from 12 Stark County schools: Plain Local, North Canton, Massillon, Louisville, Marlington, East Canton, Minerva, Sandy Valley, and Canton City school districts.
“Middle schoolers have great ideas now and don’t need to wait until high school or college to see them manifest,” said Patrick Gerber, Adventure Curator with TomTod Ideas, who’s spearheading the collaborative efforts. “Middle schoolers’ perspectives are important for our community, and we’re excited to be able to provide this opportunity when many other student activities and opportunities have had to be scaled back."
On March 18, 2021, teams brought their best presentations forward. You can see the recap here:
2021 Stark Tank: Middle School Edition Winners:
3rd: North Canton: Courtyard Renovation For All
2nd: STEAMM CCSD: STEAMM Farm
1st: Louisville: Adulting Day
Congratulations to all of our teams!
Don't forget to tune in to Stark Tank: College Edition which will be live streamed to Strengthening Stark's Facebook page on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at 6:30pm!