A group of three students, consisting of Alex Martin, Brady Schall, and Josh States, took third place at the Butler County Community College business competition. They were overseen by Mr. Hockenberry.
The Butler County Community College, or BC3, business competition is a way for young entrepreneurs to share their ideas and receive feedback. It consisted of two rounds. The first round was a training session, where teams presented their concepts for a product, and they were given ways they could improve their product.
The second round consisted of actually making the product. The teams were given five weeks to prepare their product. Then, they attended the second round of the competition and were judged on their final creation.
Martin, Schall, and States worked together to create the Min Vac Pac, which is a mini car that collects eraser shavings. Those shavings are then compressed together to create a brand new eraser.
Martin said they choose this idea in the first round of competition. He said they started by brainstorming ideas for products, and the Min Vac Pac was the one the whole group decided upon.
Hockenberry said they started off with a small, 3D printed car. Then they worked together to create interchangeable skins to decorate the car. Examples of skins they created were a Mario Kart, garbage truck, and race car skin.
The small car collects eraser shavings, which are then emptied into a compress. The compress is comprised of two pieces of wood with an opening in the middle for the shavings.
To create a new eraser, the shavings are mixed with a watered down rubber cement mixture, and the two pieces of wood are compressed together until a new eraser forms.
Martin, Schall, and States split up the work by each taking on a separate task. Martin said he took charge of the finances of the project, by keeping track of all the money put into the creation of the product.
Schall said he did a lot of the creative thinking in the product itself. He said he built the compress for the eraser shavings and came up with ideas for the designs of the skins.
States said he researched the market in which their product fit into. He kept watch over the market, making sure it stayed successful. He also said that he created a blueprint for the Min Vac Pac’s design.
The team of Martin, Schall, and States made $150 from their third place finish. First place won $250, and second place won $200.