Livingston Students to Host Young Minds Big Ideas Community 'Shark Tank' Event on Sept. 25

LIVINGSTON, NJ — A group of Livingston High School (LHS) students who recently created a platform called Young Minds Big Ideas as an opportunity for local youth to share their ideas on social entrepreneurship and ways to improve their community will host an event during Livingston’s Youth Appreciation Week, where the students will present their improvement ideas before community members and a panel of judges.

The upcoming event — which is inspired by the popular reality television series “Shark Tank” — will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 25, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Livingston Senior/Community Center in partnership with Healthy Community, Healthy Youth of Livingston .

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LHS students and event board members Jacob Glazer, Ruhaan Munjuluri, Dashiell Dias, Ben Lichtenfeld, Noah Shin, Matthew Burt, Morgan Haber, Scott Konstant and Noah Panteloen invite the public to attend and support the young participants as they work together to make Livingston a better place.

“This event aims to give young kids the chance to brainstorm, design, and present ideas to improve their town,” said Glazer. “We were thinking of ideas to improve Livingston and realized a lot of young kids probably have ideas but don’t have a chance to make them happen. We often watch the show ‘Shark Tank’ and thought that the format is a great way to get exposure for many new ideas and give kids an opportunity to share their creativity.”

Although any Livingston student was able to participate, this inaugural event was primarily promoted to high school students through social media, morning announcements on AM Wired and word-of-mouth.

Ultimately, five presentations featuring both individual and team efforts will be made during Wednesday’s event. Board members Glazer, Dias, Lichtenfeld, Burt and Panteloen will also present their own ideas.

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According to Glazer, the participants came up with their own ideas and met with the board multiple times to sharpen their proposals and presentations.

“If they wanted to participate but did not have an idea, the board members worked with them to create one,” said Glazer. “We did not want to limit the participants in their creativity, as long as the project would help the Livingston community.”

A panel of judges that includes Livingston Mayor Al Anthony, Livingston Business Improvement District (BID) Executive Director Beth Lippman and others will be on hand to hear the final presentations, which have all been approved by the Young Minds Big Ideas event board.

Each presentation will be judged on originality, the practicality and feasibility of the idea, and the potential benefits it could have for the township.

The winner will have an opportunity to work with the board, judges and community members to raise funds and implement his or her project.

Refreshments will be available throughout the event, which is free to attend and open to the public.

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