Think It Up, the new initiative from the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), joined Brooklyn Decker, Andy Roddick, AISD superintendent Dr. Paul Cruz and hundreds of local students and teachers on March 10 during SXSWedu for the second in a national series of Think It Up Live pitch competitions. The event drew students and teachers from 24 traditional district and public charter schools in Austin.
At Think It Up Live, student-teacher teams across Austin came together to pitch VIP judges on their innovative learning ideas. Roddick, founder of the Andy Roddick Foundation and retired tennis star, along with well-known “Grace and Frankie” actress Decker, listened as students put their best ideas forward at this science fair-meets “shark tank”-type event designed to promote empowered, engaged learning.
The winning team was selected from a group of 50 teams and came from Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, and received $1,000 to fund their project, which created a produce spoilage tracker to reduce food waste. All participating teams received $100 in funding credits to kick-start their projects.