Local students receive funding for community projects through PITCH-ER THIS! competition

PITCH-ER THIS! is an annual community development pitch competition hosted each year by the United Way of Gratiot & Isabella Counties (UWGIC). The nonprofit invited students in grades 6-12 to compete in small teams, pitching their ideas to a panel of judges and the public.

To date over $71,000 in funding has been provided for successful projects. These projects range from community events, health and wellness initiatives, development, and more.

This year’s fund recipients included:  

• 1st place: Breckenridge High School, which received $5,228 for improvements to the Breckenridge High School’s courtyard.
• 2nd place: Shepherd Middle School Student Council, which received $4,699.37 to add outdoor seating to the middle school’s campus.
• 3st place: Sacred Heart Bats & Butterflies, which received $600 to install a butterfly garden and bat boxes around Sacred Heart Academy.
• 4th place: Fulton High School, which received $4,950 to replace old Spanish textbooks in a Fulton High School classroom.

Annie Sanders, President and CEO of UWGIC, says up to ten teams compete per year.

“This year there were many challenges with virtual learning, virtual presentations, etcetera,” says Sanders. “By the time that the presentations were due, we had four teams remaining. All of them did an amazing job and luckily, we were able to fund all four.”

This was the sixth year for the PITCH-ER THIS! Competition, which was held virtually in consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six local celebrity judges and 1,076 community members weighed in their favorite presentations.

Judges score based on a rubric that includes a team’s presentation, how the students deliver it, the project’s overall impact on the community, and other factors like timeline and cost.

To learn more about the competition or United Way of Gratiot and Isabella Counties, visit uwgic.org.