Innovation on Display at Student Startup Competition

Logan Doolen ’27 and visiting exchange student Noah Brueggemann each received $500 prizes after judges selected their startup concepts during the collaborative entrepreneurship event between the two institutions. The Hartwick student prize was funded by the Black Family Foundation and this year, Five Star Subaru owner Ben Guenther provided an additional $500 award, so both winners could be recognized.

Both students developed their business concepts through Hartwick’s Griffiths Center for Collaboration & Innovation entrepreneurship-focused program that connects students with mentorship and hands-on startup experience. 

Doolen, a business administration and economics double major with a minor in art, presented “Doolen’s Glass Blowing,” a proposed studio in Utica, N.Y., focused on handcrafted glass pieces, lessons and community engagement through the art of glass blowing. Doolen said the opportunity helped transform a personal passion into a realistic business concept.

“Participating in this competition benefited me in a way that no class can offer,” Doolen said. “It was an opportunity to use what I learned in all my classes and apply them to one project. To see my passion for art relate to what I’ve learned from business classes made me feel more accomplished than any other project I have participated in.”

Doolen credited Professor of Practice Scott DeJong with helping shape the project from idea to presentation. “Without Professor DeJong, I would have been lost in making this start-up business,” Doolen said. “He helped guide me through decisions I had to make, calculating metrics and numbers for my business, and how to pitch it effectively.”

Brueggemann, an international business student at the Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW) Stuttgart in Germany who spent the spring 2026 semester studying at Hartwick through the institution’s exchange partnership, developed “Maria’s Dough,” a business centered on organic European-style sourdough bread made with limited ingredients sourced from Europe .

“One of the reasons I came up with this idea was that I couldn’t find delicious bread like we have in Europe,” Brueggemann said. “I also discovered that almost every bread in American supermarkets has an endless list of ingredients. I thought there had to be a solution to this.”

Brueggemann said the program provided practical entrepreneurial experience while studying in the United States. “I now know what’s important when building a pitch deck, creating a business model and plan, and how to evaluate if an idea for a business is worth pursuing,” he said.

DeJong, who mentored both students throughout the process, said the goal extends beyond a single competition. Drawing from experience launching businesses and leading organizations in the private sector, DeJong emphasized helping students build viable business models and long-term confidence.

“I want to grow the program by getting students involved earlier in their academic careers so they can present multiple times before senior year,” DeJong said. “More importantly, I want students to leave with a clear understanding of how to plan out a viable business with the confidence necessary to secure funding and succeed.”

The pitch competition followed a semester-long programming series that included startup story presentations by Hartwick alumni and business leaders. Hartwick alumni Kathy Osborne ’11, founder of Kamel PR, and Bonin Bough ’99, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Portrait Media Group, spoke with students earlier this semester about entrepreneurship, innovation and business leadership as part of a collaborative startup speaker series between Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta.

Noah Goldblatt, executive director for Global Engagement and the Griffiths Center for Collaboration and Innovation, emphasized opportunities like the startup challenge allow students to apply classroom learning in practical and creative ways while building professional confidence.