App to connect dancers with partners and resources wins IdeaMakers Challenge

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A learning and social app for dancers was the winning idea in the 2025 Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge, held March 25 during Penn State Startup Week powered by PNC. Hosted annually by the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), the early-stage business idea competition invites teams to identify a problem and pitch a solution that involves digital innovation. 

Fuego App earned top honors and the $3,000 prize. The idea was presented by College of IST graduate student Abelardo Sobarzo and Smeal College of Business students Nicole Guzman and Abraham Hernandez.  

Fuego is an app designed to unite dancers of all levels with partners, events and educational resources, creating a seamless and engaging dance community, according to Sobarzo. Acting as both a social and learning hub, the app enables users to discover nearby dance events, access virtual lessons, share videos for constructive feedback and build personalized profiles to showcase their skills and interests.  

“The idea was born from our experiences in the Caliente Dance Company — a Latin dance team here at Penn State — where we recognized a gap in accessible resources for dancers,” Sobarzo said. “We believed this was an opportunity to combine our love for dance with our entrepreneurial spirit.”  

Team Aspyre received the $2,000 second-place prize for their app to raise awareness of ethical issues in the clothing industry and encourage sustainable shopping practices. Team members included Tyler Jan, Skyler Koba, Hannah Kresefski, Lawrence Rubiato and Emira Hanna Yahya, all majoring in human-centered design and development in the College of IST.  

The app features articles with information, tips and relevant news, and a scanner tool will allow users to scan clothing tags in-store to learn about the sourcing of materials and labor practices of the clothing brands. 

“Aspyre is a counter to the fast fashion culture,” said Kresefski. “We plan to partner with clothing brands that meet our community’s standards for ethical and sustainable business practices on our app’s explore page and provide tools that make mindful shopping easy and accessible.” 

Third place and $1,000 went to Hivley, a community-based service marketplace to help turn hobbies into side income. Hively empowers students to offer skills they enjoy — tutoring, photography, graphic design, beauty services — without the stress of traditional, time-consuming part-time jobs. The idea was presented by team members Laila Iswaisi and Ansh Matta from the College of IST and Tanvlin Saini from the Smeal College of Business.  

“Focused on local connections, verified users and transparent reviews, Hivley makes it easy and safe to find or offer services in your own college town,” said Matta, who founded the marketplace. “With a flexible pricing model and no hidden fees, the platform is launching its beta at Penn State before expanding to other campuses and close-knit communities nationwide.” 

The challenge also presented the Dave Hall Award. Named for the late dean of the College of IST, who was instrumental in developing Startup Week and the IdeaMakers Challenge, the award recognizes the team that best exemplifies the challenge’s spirit of collaboration and innovation.   

The Dave Hall Award went to Factly, a real-time fact-checking web extension tool to help users, such as voters, gain objective insights on their news consumption. Team members included Izzy Gaspar’raj, Rohan Karunakaran, Grace Liou and Zach Ranjan, all from the College of IST.  

“Factly would use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to identify factual claims on web pages in real time, employ web scraping to gather supporting data from trusted, verified sources and have human reviewers ensure AI accuracy to deliver reliable fact-checks,” Liou said. “The heart of our project is to promote critical thinking when consuming news and to practice thorough research so that voters can make educated decisions without the fear of misinformation skewing their political knowledge or views.”  

The six-week challenge was open to undergraduate students across the University. Participating teams received mentoring from faculty, industry leaders and experienced entrepreneurs to develop their idea-pitching skills, which they presented to a panel of judges in the semi-final round. The top teams were invited back to present final pitches to a new group of experts, which included Marc Friedenberg, assistant teaching professor in the College of IST; Dana Calacci, assistant professor in the College of IST, Daren Coudriet, executive director of the Nittany AI Alliance; Paul Horn, head of global cloud alliances at Nasuni and a 2004 College of IST alumnus; and Jacki Williams, an information technology professional and adjunct instructor in the College of IST. 

The teams’ idea pitches were followed by a Q&A session with the judges, who evaluated the teams on how well they articulated the problem, how well their proposed solution addressed it, how well they defined their customer segment and how critical a role technology played in their solution. 

Penn State alumni Bob and Susan Bardusch, whose gift established the Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge Endowment in the College of IST, attended the competition virtually. Mark Higgins, commissioner and chair of the Board of Centre County Commissioners, was a featured speaker at the event. 

Friedenberg organized the challenge and helped mentor students as they developed their ideas. As the faculty coordinator, he reviewed team applications, selected the teams to forward to semifinals, paired teams with mentors and met with teams regularly to review content and prepare presentations. 

“This year's finalists showcased extraordinary innovation, tackling challenges from promoting social connection, to encouraging sustainable fashion, to fighting online disinformation,” Friedenberg said. “These interdisciplinary teams demonstrated remarkable depth, exploring not just technological solutions but also the broader impact and market potential of their ideas. 

“Presenting to an audience of over 170 people, the teams exhibited exceptional communication skills, confidently engaging with judges and articulating their vision. They represent the best of technological problem-solving: combining technical expertise with genuine social insight.” 

Learn more about the competition on the Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge website.