Westlake High School Students Advance to Finals of Innovation Competition

WESTLAKE, OH - The Hyland High School Innovation Showdown, which invites teams of students to Hyland to compete and showcase original ideas, will feature a group of Westlake students in the finals. The senior team of Sneha Ramachandran, Mark Sargent, Jackson Liang, and David Eppele advanced to the final round of the annual Hyland High School Innovation Showdown. They are students in the Technical Drawing/Design Level 4 Honors class at Westlake High School.

They were one of only five teams to advance to the finals, scheduled to be held at the Hyland Software corporate center on Saturday, October 22, 2016.

They made it through the first round by submitting essay questions asking about teamwork and collaboration. They were selected for the final round by submitting a 60 second video pitch demonstrating their business solution utilizing some kind of technology. According to the Hyland website, members of the winning team receive a prize, presented at Hyland’s company-wide Monday Morning Meeting, followed by a day of shadowing their mentors.

Their project is titled “Maria, Smart Mirror”. Maria, like Siri from a smartphone, or Cortana from Windows, interacts with individuals when they are getting ready any time throughout the day in front of the mirror. Maria, the Smart Mirror would enable you to view the time of day, weather conditions, remind you of things to do, and offer other related suggestions and anticipated events or activities, all personalized depending on who is in front of the mirror.

Amir Gill, a software professional at Hyland, served as a mentor to the team on the second round and will continue to consult with the team in preparation for the final round. They will be making a ten minute presentation during the final round to a team of Hyland executives making up the judging panel, including Ed McQuiston, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, George Angelato, Vice President of Quality Assurance and Documentation, and Ken Malone, Vice President of Technical Support.

Photos from Westlake Schools

Students in photo, from upper left to upper right: David Eppele, Jackson Liang, Mark Sargent, and Sneha Ramachandran.