A group of students that wrote, performed and recorded their own original rap music video to motivate middle school students for the FCAT exam, took home the top prize at the Cornerstone Social Entrepreneurship Competition. “Team U-Knighted” worked with Junior Achievement at Memorial Middle School to host an FCAT night. The purpose of the event was to inform students and parents about the importance of the test. The group showed their video at the event and the audience liked it so much they asked for permission to share the video with other county middle schools. The group also collected enough prizes so that every student, parent, faculty member and staff member who attended was able to leave with a prize, including theme park tickets for grand prize winners. Team members included Daniel Ahye, Tom Clemente, Vanessa Lago, Tyler Lincoln, Ruth Nelson, Ali Nasser and Jason Sena. The team received $700.
View their video, “Can’t Get An F”, here.
The three runner up teams “Good Knights,” “Superheroes in Training,” and “Helping Hands” each received $100.
Approximately 60 students competed in the competition which is designed to give students enrolled in the Cornerstone Course a chance to showcase their achievements and gain experience giving professional presentations.
Judges for the final competition were Judy Sarullo, Pet Rescue by Judy; Leigh and Bob Ballard, BoysTown; Terri Jones, BASE Camp; Daniel Samuels, Devereux Foundation, and Rosie Wilder, New Hope for Kids.
The event was made possible due to the generous support of Jim Balaschak, ‘86 and ‘92, and his wife Debbie, ‘88. They wish to encourage students to learn the value of volunteering now and hope that the experiences that they have in the Cornerstone program will continue after graduation.