HPU STUDENTS DELIVER AT THE SECOND ANNUAL JOHN F. SCARPA ENTREPRENEURIAL PATHWAY MAKERSPACE COMPETITION

For the past few weeks, HPU students have been designing, building, and collaborating on products of the future. The HPU Makerspace at Aloha Tower Marketplace became their laboratory, a place where innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship don't just coexist; they collide.

Fifteen students across eleven teams, drawn from a wide cross section of colleges and disciplines, signed up for the Second Annual John F. Scarpa Entrepreneurial Pathway Makerspace Competition, where the stakes are significant: up to $1,500 in prizes and, perhaps more importantly, the chance to prove that a great idea, given the right tools and time, can become something tangible. Plus, there are some major bragging rights at stake.

The format is straightforward. Each team selected a challenge category at random, then in just under a month, conceived and built a working prototype with the Makerspace as their homebase. Teams were organized into four categories: Community Impact, Cultural Creativity, Smart Living/Student Life, and Other. Each produced something distinct, but all eleven projects shared a common thread; they were built to solve a real problem.

What followed was a stretch of late nights and early mornings, of online Zoom and FaceTime sessions and in-person hours spent at the Makerspace, of teammates pushing each other to think out of the box. By competition day, members of the HPU ʻohana could walk the room, speak directly with the student creators, and hear firsthand the thinking behind each product, what problem it solves, who it's for, and where the idea first took root.

Adding an inspiring dimension to the event, special guest Chris Hissom stopped by to speak with students about his own entrepreneurial journey and met individually with each team during the competition. Hissom is the co-founder and CEO of SurfUp, a surf-share app that works much like a bike or scooter rental service, where users locate boards at convenient coastal spots and rent them on demand through their phone. An HPU Entrepreneur in Residence and business development director at Crown Bioscience, Hissom brought a timely reminder to the room that the kind of thinking on display that day is exactly how companies get built.

Judging the field was no small task. Three HPU alumni, each with deep professional experience in entrepreneurship and business, met with every team for a detailed conversation about their product, how it works, how it was made, and why it matters.

HPU alums Ben Eger, Paul Gene, and Minna Lethi offered more than business acumen; they came to the table as people who have built something themselves and understand what it means to take an idea from concept to reality. Their questions pushed students to articulate not just what they created, but the mission behind it and the path forward. The judges evaluated every project on originality, marketability, profitability, and ability to solve a specific problem, with additional weight given to ease of manufacturing and potential for expansion. HPU Vice President of Marketing and Communications Jeffrey Rich served as emcee for the event. 

First-place winners in each category received $1,000, with second-place finishers earning $500. This year's competition also introduced a People's Choice Award, carrying an additional $500 prize.

Community Impact

Erin Young's Color Buddies may be small in size, but the idea behind them is anything but. Inspired by her aunt's work with special needs children, Young designed reusable 3D-printed Braille toppers for markers and crayons that help blind and visually impaired students independently identify colors, a low-cost solution with applications ranging from classroom art supplies to everyday personal care products.

Luke Dufner and Mattias Namur took a different approach to community need with BottleJet, a 3D-printed adapter that transforms standard one-gallon water jugs into portable pressure-spray rinse devices. Sustainable, affordable, and especially practical in Hawaiʻi, where rinsing off sand and saltwater is a daily ritual, the project is a smart reimagining of something most people already have on hand.

Smart Living/Student Life

Kaylee Tanig and Keʻalohi Young, president and treasurer of HPU's Gender Equity Movement and no strangers to the Makerspace Competition after Keʻalohi's first-place finish last year, channeled their advocacy directly into their design. Their Safety Keychain, 3D printed in the Makerspace, includes a seatbelt cutter, whistle, and portable lock, equipping students, especially women living downtown, with tools to stay prepared in any situation.

Callum Down’s versatile Casecade is a mobile phone case that protects and organizes, with multiple uses, including flipping the phone horizontally to use it as a kickstand while watching videos. Casecade consists of three plastic pieces produced on the Makerspace’s 3D printer, interlocking to protect the phone and hold ID cards and credit cards in place.

Cameron Prater and Max Steelman tackled a problem every college student knows well: a desk that is never quite big enough. Their Student Organizer is a modular, adjustable two-shelf unit that clamps to the side of any table, with slide-in compartments sized for everything from pens to folders to small books.

Cultural Creativity

Ethan Lund's Lawaiʻa IT bridges ancient Hawaiian fishing tradition and modern fabrication by 3D printing custom lures and tackle boxes designed for local fishermen. Rooted in the sacred makau craftsmanship passed down through generations, the project is both a practical tool and a cultural tribute.

Scarlett Polanco Baeza's Finding My Way is a wearable tribute to Polynesian wayfinding, rendered through three distinct handcrafted techniques on a canvas tote bag. The front features a machine-embroidered Hawaiian Star Compass; petroglyph-style pictograms hand-stitched along the sides tell the story of Pele and the voyagers; and on the back, key navigation constellations are mapped by hand using pearl beads, each placed at its true compass position in the Hawaiian sky.

Other

Serena Clarke and Todd Jr. Le Roy designed Filter Buddies, a floating microplastic interception device that catches plastic particles in waterways before they ever reach the ocean. Built from a recycled bath toy and a sustainable filter structure assembled from affordable, widely available materials, the prototype is designed to be easy to produce, maintain, and scale.

Kathrine Iversen's Mahalo Hybrid Surf Bag solves the urban surfer's balancing act, functioning as both a board sling and a high-capacity tote with integrated pockets for wax, keys, and water. True to its name, the bag comes with a giving-back model built in, directing a portion of every sale to local ocean conservation and youth surfing nonprofits.

Gloria Bautista brought some personality to the lineup with the Chomper Caddy, a shark-shaped desk organizer fitted with four drawers, a dorsal fin pen holder, fin-mounted jewelry and décor storage, and a nose-rod for corralling cables and chargers.

Jackie Nguyen's Dress Expander is a simple, sewn-in panel that adds one to three inches of room to the back of a dress, a practical and planet-friendly response to the inconsistency in women's clothing sizes that too often sends still-loved garments straight to a landfill.

And the Winners Are...

Community Impact: Erin Young took first place with Color Buddies, and Luke Dufner and Mattias Namur earned second with BottleJet.

Smart Living/Student Life: Kaylee Tanig and Keʻalohi Young claimed first with their Safety Keychain, followed by Callum Down in second with Casecade.

Cultural Creativity: Ethan Lund won first place with Lawaiʻa IT, and Scarlett Polanco Baeza earned second with Finding My Way.

Other: Serena Clarke and Todd Jr. Le Roy took first with Filter Buddies, and Kathrine Iversen placed second with the Mahalo Hybrid Surf Bag.

The inaugural People's Choice Award went to Erin Young for Color Buddies, a fitting nod to a project that began with a simple conversation and ended up winning over an entire room.

 

Congratulations to all HPU students who competed in the Second Annual John F. Scarpa Entrepreneurial Pathway Makerspace Competition. If this year is any indication, 2027 cannot come soon enough.