Catalyst @ Penn GSE

When Kim Michelson and Joyce Anderson first met, they didn’t intend to build a college access venture—they simply wanted to solve a critical problem they witnessed everyday. As former student-athletes now working in education, athletics, and coaching, Michelson and Anderson believed in the transformative power of sports, but continually saw the challenges young people faced in navigating the complex path to college athletic eligibility. At the heart of the problem was the lack of guidance and support for high school student-athletes as they worked to meet the academic eligibility requirements for college sports. “Academic eligibility, while essential, was a broken process for high school student-athletes,” says Michelson. “There was no navigation, no guide for high school administrators. It was almost like getting into a car without a steering wheel.” Anderson, who had worked as a college athletics advisor, saw firsthand how students were failing to meet eligibility year after year, despite being offered scholarships. “There were so many kids who didn’t have an adult in their immediate circle helping them navigate the process, it was usually somebody at school who was giving them the inspiration or the guidance that they needed,” she says. Recognizing the need for a more personalized and efficient approach, Michelson and Anderson partnered to create 2024 Milken-Penn GSE EBPC Magnitude Digital Prize Winner Honest Game, a software and services platform that helps students, parents, coaches, and school counselors navigate the complex world of college athletic academic eligibility and recruiting. By providing real-time data, strategic guidance, and transparent communication, Honest Game aims to increase learning outcomes and unlock opportunities for student-athletes. Read their story: https://lnkd.in/gqXmQKEg

Manasi Mehan never imagined that a simple request from one of her students would spark a movement to transform arts education in India. As a Teach for India fellow teaching in a low-income government school in Mumbai, Mehan was focused on improving her students’ literacy and numeracy skills. But when a student asked why they weren’t doing any real art in their art classes, Mehan realized there was a gaping hole in the education system. “These children are tiny human beings, but they play the role of adults in their lives just because of the backgrounds they come from, the communities they come from, the violence they’ve faced, the poverty that has made them the people, the children that they are,” Mehan explains. “And schools are not providing them the space to just be children.” Determined to give her students a creative outlet, Mehan teamed up with her co-founder Chhavi Khandelwal to launch 2024 Milken-Penn GSE EBPC Cognativ Inc. Prize winner Saturday Art Class in 2016. What started as a single classroom experiment has now blossomed into a movement reaching over 178,000 children across 13 states in India. Read their story: https://lnkd.in/gu-CSAWn

In a world where over 600 million people struggle with speech and language disorders, one startup is on a mission to transform the landscape of speech therapy through AI-powered apps and game-based learning. Meet 2024 Milken-Penn GSE EBPC winner of the Michael & Lori Milken Family Foundation Grand Prize Say It Labs, a pioneering venture co-founded by Erich Reiter, a speech and language pathologist with a deep background in speech recognition engineering, and Lukas Latacz, a researcher specializing in speech recognition algorithms that target atypical speech often seen in people with speech disabilities. Inspired by his friend Chris, who lost his ability to speak due to ALS, Reiter recognized the stark disconnect between the advanced speech technology he had worked on and the limited tools available to those with speech disorders. This realization sparked the creation of SAY IT Labs, a company dedicated to bridging that gap and empowering individuals with accessible, effective, and engaging speech therapy solutions. Read their story: https://lnkd.in/gRXncBcf

Congratulations to the 2024 #McGrawPrize winners!

We just heard from our seven amazing #MilkenPennGSE finalists at the final pitch competition at the HolonIQ 'Back to School' Summit.

We just heard from our seven amazing #MilkenPennGSE finalists at the final pitch competition at the HolonIQ 'Back to School' Summit.

Say It Labs, a venture that develops video games that combines artificial intelligence and speech therapy to help support children with speech disorders, takes home the Michael & Lori Milken Family Foundation Grand Prize! Congratulations to Erich Reiter! #MilkenPennGSE University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Saturday Art Class, which unleashes the creative potential of one of the world’s largest marginalized child populations by developing social-emotional skills through visual arts education, takes home the Cognativ Inc Prize! Congratulations to founders Manasi Mehan and Chhavi Khandelwal! #MilkenPennGSE University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Honest Game, the only automated system that empowers school staff, students and their families to unlock equity to college athletic opportunities like experts, takes home the Magnitude Digital Prize today! Congrats to founders Kim Michelson and Joyce Anderson! #MilkenPennGSE University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Say It Labs (Erich Reiter) wins the Osage Venture Partners Audience Choice Prize!