LANSING, Mich. — Edtech innovators from Sparktivity have been chosen as the winners of the fourth annual Michigan EdTech Innovation Pitch Contest, sharing $22,000 in business startup grants and legal and creative startup assistance with four other finalists. The concepts developed from the final pitches will be used to improve Michigan classrooms through innovation, technology, and firsthand educator experience.
“The 2025 Ed Tech Pitch Contest team was fortunate to have five incredible finalists present to our judges and even more participants in this year’s bootcamp. As a judge, I’ve been part of a few of these pitch contests, and it really does get better every year,” explained Tom Stewart, a contest judge from the Michigan State University Research Foundation. “Each of these pitches is aimed to solve some of our communities’ biggest problems, and it’s such an honor to be part of the first step of our finalists’ journey.”
The first-place prize went to Martha Ann (Annie) Hebel, from Forest Hills Eastern High School, for her work developing Sparktivity, a creativity app for students and teachers. Hebel will receive $10,000 in business startup grant funding, plus marketing and legal support. Sparktivity fosters creativity in K-12 classrooms, helping students strengthen divergent thinking and giving teachers tools to assess and track creative development.
“Personally, this experience changed my life,” said Hebel. “I was looking to do something different, outside of the classroom. The Ed Tech bootcamp sparked my creativity, and I am forever thankful I was allowed to be part of this experience. I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned into so many other spaces.”
The second-place winner was Mohamed Hagras, from Eastern Michigan University, who created RASTA, a Real Time AI Shooter Threat Alert program designed to detect and respond to gunshots and transform public safety in schools and community institutions. It can detect gunfire in under one second, eliminate false alarms, and send alerts to first responders. He will receive $6,000 in business startup grant funding, plus logo design support and legal consultation.
The third-place winning team was FirstWord, founded by Rishabh Parekh in Farmington Hills. He presented an AI-powered communication coach built to level the playing field for early-career professionals, international students, and non-native English speakers. Using real-time voice analysis, professional roleplay simulations, and AI-driven feedback, FirstWord improves fluency, confidence, and delivery for high-stakes situations like interviews and presentations.
The finalist teams of IRST and Helio will each also receive start-up grants of $1,000 for their final round pitches.
“This was truly an adventure,” said Noncy Fields, founder of IRST. “I was stretched outside of my comfort zone as a teacher, but I’m so happy I was able to participate and learn.”
The Michigan EdTech Innovation Pitch Contest is the result of a partnership between Michigan Virtual, Spartan Innovations, a subsidiary of MSU Research Foundation, and Michigan SBDC to bring impactful edtech ideas to life to solve common classroom problems and make teaching and learning more impactful. Sponsorship is generously provided by the Michigan Education Association’s Center for Leadership and Learning, Michigan Creative, Foster Swift, D2L, Consumers Energy, Case Credit Union, and Dewpoint.
“For the fourth year in a row, the finalists in this contest continue to astound me. Every single one of our competitors brought passion and enthusiasm to this work,” said Jamey Fitzpatrick, President and CEO of Michigan Virtual and a pitch contest judge. “The winning pitches hold so much passion, energy, and potential for education moving forward; this is clearly just the beginning for our participants.”
To be eligible in 2025, Michigan educators and innovators must have submitted a written pitch by May 26 for finalists to be selected on June 20. All contest participants and all other Michigan edtech innovators were eligible to attend a free Innovation Bootcamp, which was designed to help participants further explore and develop a business model around their idea.
To learn more about the contest and Michigan Virtual’s edtech catalyst efforts, visit michiganvirtual.org/edtechcatalyst.
