NJ STEM Education Startup Wins $30,000 and 1st Place at TCNJ Mayo Business Plan Competition

EWING, N.J., April 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Code the Future (codethefuture.io), a science, technology, education, and math (STEM) education startup run by students at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), won 1st place and $30,000 at  the Mayo Business Plan Competition.

The two time award-winning team runs robotics and coding programs for students in grades 2 through 8 with a mission to increase the number of STEM graduates in the US. Their programs include Robot Engineers, Music Engineers, and Smart Car Developers.

Code the Future was the brainchild of CEO Sarah Sleiman, who, as a college freshman, dreamed of running an elementary level robotics program.

"My high school robotics team won the 2012 World Championships, after that, the parents in the school district started asking for an elementary robotics program. I looked, and couldn't find any that worked for my school district, so I created one."

As Sleiman entered her freshman year at TCNJ, she recruited a team and got to work. Her team now consists of Dominic Clark, Pulkit Gupta, and Megha Rathi. They entered the business competition and placed 3rd. The team put their $6,000 third place winning back into the business. Over the next couple of years, while still full-time students,  Sleiman and her team worked relentlessly to run robotics programs, collect feedback, and grow.

The company, which started with 1 simple robotics program, now offers 3 different programs and has taught more than 450 students. And they've hired help: the company recently brought on 4 mentors, primarily TCNJ education majors who run the programs, along with 1 TCNJ business major as a sales executive.

Additionally, they plan to grow  their sales team and create new programs in machine learning, AI, and virtual reality.

"Seeing the lightbulb moment when students code with us for the first time is the most fulfilling moment and reminds me why we are doing this." - Sarah Sleiman, CEO

Code the Future is running summer camps along with creating elementary and middle school partnerships. To learn more, go to codethefuture.io.

Contact:
Sarah Sleiman
7325792822
[email protected]

SOURCE Code the Future

Related Links

https://www.codethefuture.io/