Bold ideas from 10 California students are among just 60 semifinalist submissions selected from over 3,700 nationwide to pitch at the Mott Million Dollar Challenge, June 15-16 in downtown Flint.
FLINT, Mich. , June 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ten students from California have been selected as semifinalists in the Mott Million Dollar Challenge, a national pitch competition for K-12 students.
More than 5,300 young people from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. submitted over 3,700 business ideas and social solutions to the Challenge. From those entries, 1,500 submissions were selected in the first round. Now, the creators behind the top 60 ideas are advancing to compete at a live national event in Flint, Michigan next week.
The California semifinalists and their ideas are:
Tech Buddies for Seniors — Elijah Arias (4th Grade, Visions in Education Charter Homeschool) and Isaiah Arias (3rd Grade, Visions in Education Charter Homeschool), social pitch: A donation-supported community service that helps older adults learn to use smartphones, apps and digital tools so they can access essential services independently.
Traffic Powered Windmill — Nysa Chhajed (5th Grade, Parkmont Elementary School), social pitch: A renewable energy system that captures wind generated by passing vehicles and trains to produce electricity while using moss-covered air-directing walls to help reduce urban air pollution.
Aucura — Kayley Xu (11th Grade, The Bishop’s School), business pitch: A wearable, beamforming-enabled stethoscope array that uses advanced sensors, signal processing and machine learning to improve the detection of heart and lung conditions.
Scam Savvy — Camil Gallardo and Andy Yu (11th Grade, Galileo Academy of Science & Technology), business pitch: An educational app that uses interactive, game-like quizzes to teach users how to recognize and avoid digital scams, helping reduce fraud and financial losses.
ThinkLinks — Aarav Kalra (11th Grade, Saratoga High School) and Hemant Kumar (11th Grade, Mission San Jose High School), social pitch: A personalized AI education platform that uses adaptive learning and student interests to help prepare students for an AI-driven future.
Self Hem Guards — Jonah Lupien and Lluvia Marcial (12th Grade, San Dieguito Academy), business pitch: A reusable, magnetic self-hem guard that protects baggy pants and offers an affordable alternative to tailoring or replacing damaged clothing.
As semifinalists, each project will be awarded $5,000. The students will pitch live in front of judges during the final competition June 15-16 in Flint.
Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation as part of its centennial celebration, the Mott Million Dollar Challenge is administered by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) in collaboration with VentureLab, Young Entrepreneur Institute (YEI), the Afterschool Alliance, Collaborative Communications and the 50 State Afterschool Network. The Challenge is designed to shine a light on entrepreneurship education as a meaningful way to help students build skills they need to navigate and shape the future.
Learn more about the Mott Million Dollar Challenge and explore semifinalist ideas at https://mottmillion.org/60-semifinalist-pitches/.
Contact:
Jen Peters
[email protected]
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ten-california-students-advance-to-national-finals-of-the-mott-million-dollar-challenge-in-flint-michigan-302796925.html
SOURCE Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
