10-Hour

Safe Child Design Sprint

Safeguarding children through natural disasters‍ ‍

Friday October 2, 2026

FSU Students working with the community to design a better future

EVENT INFORMATION

Friday, Oct 2, 8AM - 6PM

Calling all FSU students!

Apply your unique talents to solving real-world challenges!

Eight interdisciplinary teams of six compete for a chance to win prizes and have an impact!

10-Hour Event!

Friday, Oct 2, 8:00am -6:00pm

At the FSU Innovation Hub

‍ ‍

A great opportunity to make new connections, gain skills and experience, and make a difference in the world!!

Up to $2000 in prizes!

Three meals included!

Free event t-shirts & giveaways for all participants!

EVENT IS FULL

TENTATIVE AGENDA

FRIDAY, OCT 2

08:00 CHECK-IN & BREAKFAST

08:30 INTRODUCTIONS (KEN & BRET)
Ken’s Presentation

08:45 EXPERT PRESENTATION (DR. TAI COLE)
Tai’s Presentation

09:15 EXPERT PANEL (DR. TAI COLE)

10:15 STRATEGY WORKSHOP 1: TEAMING (ANGI)
Angi’s Presentation

10:30 TEAM WORK

10:45 STRATEGY WORKSHOP 2: EMPATHY AND REFRAMING (ANGI)

11:00 TEAM WORK

12:00 STRATEGY WORKSHOP 3: IDEATION & PR/FAQ (KEN)
- 3 paragraph press release, 3 FAQs

12:15 WORKING LUNCH SPONSORED BY ELITE DNA

02:30 PR/FAQ DUE to ken@innovation.fsu.edu

02:00 STRATEGY WORKSHOP 4: PROTOTYPING AND PITCH (KEN)

02:15 TEAM WORK

04:00 PITCH LINK DUE to ken@innovation.fsu.edu
- Format: 4 minutes, 6 Google slides maximum + 3 min Q&A

TEAM PHOTOS

04:15 PITCH CONTEST

05:00 JUDGE DELIBERATION - POST EVENT SURVEY

05:30 AWARDS CEREMONY GROUP PHOTO

06:00 CONCLUDES

WHO SHOULD SIGN UP?

This event is open to students from all majors!

Sign up as an individual or with friends!

Coding and programming skills NOT required!

Only 48 seats available!

EVENT IS FULL

THE CHALLENGE

Florida is one of the most natural-disaster-prone states in the country. Yet children, and their unique physical, emotional, developmental, and family needs, are too often overlooked in emergency-management planning.

How might we better safeguard children before, during, and after hurricanes or other natural disasters?

YOUR MISSION

Working in an interdisciplinary team, using Design Thinking and the support of experts, develop a solution to an area of the challenge that is impactful and feasible.

Pitch your solution for a chance to win prizes.

Do all of this within the 10-hour time frame.

Solutions may be physical inventions, apps, services, systems, or a combination of these.

This challenge will require skills from many disciplines and majors:

Social Work
Emergency Management
Psychology
Nursing
Medicine
Social Sciences
Business and Entrepreneurship
Communications and Digital Media
Humanities
The Arts
Engineering
Computing and Technology
Science, Meteorology and Math

SUPPORTIVE RESOURCES

The below resources are provided to support research on this topic before and during the event.

NATURAL DISASTER PREP & RESPONSE - Rebound & Recovery Responses https://cfc.fsu.edu/natural-disaster/
Intersectionality of Substance Use Disorders Natural Disasters and Children's Mental Health
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12QA2qV0bf1jQj1UNY3-UuhcUzHeUn5NE/view?usp=sharing
FSU CFC Mental Health in Aftermath of Disasters ep draft Dec 2
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14ZzwbSTosNZGjpsdNpQYdRtAvSjnKTnt/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109949056049683188686&rtpof=true&sd=true
2020 Child Evidence Brief
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z8eGGah3DOnGcMDwBNzcN8Dq8y6kgnCI/view?usp=sharing

GenAI Tip! Create a Google Gemini Notebook with the above resources so that you can query just these resources using AI.

Instructions:

Login to Google
Open https://gemini.google.com/
Click
Name it “Safeguarding Children Through Natural Disasters,” select “Organize Your Ideas, ” click the arrow.
Click Add Sources
Click Add Websites
Paste the following into the box:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12QA2qV0bf1jQj1UNY3-UuhcUzHeUn5NE/view?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14ZzwbSTosNZGjpsdNpQYdRtAvSjnKTnt/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109949056049683188686&rtpof=true&sd=true

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z8eGGah3DOnGcMDwBNzcN8Dq8y6kgnCI/view?usp=sharing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsBPyl3X_3Y&t=2s

Close the Sources box.

Type questions of interest in the textbox such as “What is the most serious threat to children from natural disasters?”. Google Gemini will scrub the resources above for answers to your questions. No other resources will be used and Gemini won’t make-up any answers. It will cite the documents used for each answer.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Expert Panel

Dr. Tai Cole, Lead Expert Facilitator, Stoops CFC
Camryn Gwaltney, Elite DNA
Tisha Holmes, Stoops CFC
Christian Levings, Director of Emergency Management at Apalachee Regional Planning Council
John Mathias, Stoops CFC

Other Experts

Cassidy Doane, Elite DNA
Sam Creamer, Elite DNA
Alison Dujovic, Stoops CFC
Ellen Piekalkiewicz, Stoops CFC
Raegan Hamilton, Stoops CFC
Caroline Senkowicz, Stoops CFC

Innovation Hub

Ken Baldauf, Lead Process Facilitator
Wes Dorce

JUDGING CRITERIA

Innovative Creativity - 25 points

How creative is this idea? Is it something anyone could have thought of? A low score indicates someone probably already did this. A high score is earned by a NEW highly imaginative and creative solution.

Impact - 25 points

How useful will the solution be at addressing the challenge? A low score indicates that, even though the idea may be innovative, it probably won't have much effect on the problem. A high score is earned by a solution that fully addresses a problem.

Feasibility - 25 points

Will your solution be easy to implement? Or will it be costly and require a lot of effort? A low score indicates that, no matter how innovative and impactful the solution, it will be impossible to implement. A high score is earned by a solution that can be implemented with little to no effort.

Prototype and Pitch - 25 points

How effective was the prototype and presentation in selling the solution? Did it demonstrate exactly how the solution will be executed and experienced? Did it illustrate the use of Design Thinking? A low score indicates that the prototype was not compelling, and/or there were significant problems with the presentation. A high score is earned by a very persuasive presentation that engages the audience, tells a compelling story, and effectively demonstrates the effectiveness of the solution.