ALLIANCE, Ohio — On March 4, nearly 80 middle school students from four Stark County school districts attended the University of Mount Union’s second annual Junior Achievement Innovation Invitational.

Students from Alliance Local, Marlington Local, Plain Local and North Canton Local attended the daylong event that found them generating solutions for problems faced by educators of all levels in many communities.

The problems students faced were how to best use cell phones in classrooms and dealing with food insecurity and waste. Working all morning to find solutions, the middle school students then pitched their ideas to the panel of Mount Union student judges. 

The event, sponsored by INCUBOX, was a collaboration between Junior Achievement of North Central Ohio and Mount Union’s entrepreneurship program.