CCAD students win big in design competition

Each year, hundreds of people, including professional engineers and designers, participate in FirstBuild’s hackathon in Louisville, Kentucky.

This year, 10 Industrial Design students and one Interior Design student from Columbus College of Art & Design joined the competition, working on four teams — three of which took home a total of $8,600 in prizes.

“We’re thrilled to be a part of the event,” said Greg Thune, chair of CCAD’s Industrial Design program. “It gives students firsthand experience in trying to build something with very tight constraints and a very tight timeframe.”

This is the second time CCAD students have competed in the event organized by FirstBuild, a co-creation community backed by GE Appliances.

Congrats to the following students who participated this year: Kwaku Ayesu, Joe Bloom, Aura Escobar, Ridge Holt, Casey Little, Nick Majeski, Sarah Mauk, Arik Spaulding, Rachel Turnwald, Billy Yoehus, and Mariah Zambuto.

The winning teams were:

Team Marco Polo: FirstBuild first place, $3,000; GE Design first place, $1,500; and 3M first place, $1,000

Aura Escobar, Rachel Turnwald, and Mariah Zambuto

Team Youniversal: FirstBuild second place, $2,000, and Texas Instrument first place, $1,000

Ridge Holt and Arik Spaulding

Team Phoenix: FirstBuild honorable mention, $100

Joe Bloom, Casey Little, and Sarah Mauk