Experiential Learning: Competitions, Events & Extracurricular Involvement
Every year, the Veloric Center offers a number of cross-campus experiential learning opportunities open to all undergraduate and graduate students. These include workshops, panels, open houses, and competitions. We believe that competitions are an excellent way for students to dive into the entrepreneurial mindset, take a few (low-stakes) risks, build confidence, and meet new students, all while having a ton of fun!
Annual Competitions
The Solution Slam (formerly The Startup & Standout Solution Slam) is a fast-paced, virtual experience for incoming first-year undergrad and grad students at American University.
Over five days, you'll team up to build an app that solves a real Gen Z problem, attend skill-building workshops with real entrepreneurs and pitch your idea in a live competition for a chance to win a share of $5,000 in prize money!
Along the way, you’ll sharpen your creativity, collaboration and storytelling skills and earn an Emerging Problem-Solver Badge to showcase on LinkedIn and your resume.
Since our launch in 2020, over 500 students have participated.
The AI-Driven Sustainable Communities Impact Challenge is a cross-disciplinary innovation competition that invites American University students to use artificial intelligence and technology to tackle real community problems in Washington, DC. Teams of undergraduate and graduate students from at least two different majors work together to research a local need, design and test a practical solution, and pitch their idea for a chance to advance to the finals and compete for 15,000 dollars in prize funding. Over two rounds, participants move from problem discovery and low-fidelity prototypes to building a small working version of their solution, exploring its potential impact, and presenting their work to a panel of judges. The challenge is hosted by the Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship in collaboration with campus partners and is designed to build in-demand skills in AI, ethical tech, and venture creation while empowering students to make a tangible difference in DC communities.
The Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) is an annual global competition sponsored by UNC Chapel Hill in which the globe's top 80 business schools compete. Students roleplay as venture capitalists to real companies seeking financing by preparing and negotiating a term sheet. The event includes an internal Kogod competition, regional competitions, and the global finals. Graduate and undergraduate students participate in separate competitions. This is a highly prestigious and visible event for Kogod. Since our participation launch in 2015, over 200 students have participated in the competition.
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In our Sustainability Invent-o-thon, student teams develop physical prototypes for games or toys designed to teach the UN Sustainable Development Goals to children. Teams are comprised of students from diverse backgrounds and academic disciplines. Prior to competition day, students do not know who will be on their team, or which goal they will be working to teach. All prototyping supplies (and briefing materials related to the Goals) are provided, and no external research is allowed. The top teams move onto the final round, where they are provided two weeks and full access to AU’s Design and Build Lab in order to upgrade their prototypes. The top three teams split $10,000 in prize money. In its first iteration in 2022, the competition attracted nearly 100 students.
Student Clubs
AU has two student clubs in the entrepreneurship area. One is the Entrepreneurship Club at AU and the other is the Private Equity/Venture Capital Club. Both clubs are strategic partners with the Veloric Center and we work closely with them for student experiential learning opportunities, workshops, and competition delivery.
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