Team Rosie’s Clam & Get It runs to receive the first place award in the People's Choice category. Photo by Prescott Watson.

Hundreds of clam chowder lovers flocked to a packed Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Feb. 25 to experience the city’s 31st annual Clam Chowder Cook-Off. The festival lined the entire boardwalk, with booth after booth of contenders cooking up steaming vats of both Boston and Manhattan-style chowders for eager foodies to taste.

“It’s my second time going to the festival … and the clam chowder always tastes amazing,” said Elizabeth Suarez, a third-year UC Santa Cruz student. “Coming here has always been a great way to experience Santa Cruz and to really participate in being a part of this community.”

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the competition included 74 teams of soup-savvy chowder chefs who offered samples of their very own creations. Teams were judged in both traditional Boston white and Manhattan red chowders by a panel of “distinguished chowder judges,” according to the festival’s program. The judging panel included everyone from city council members and deputy chief of police to representatives from a local architecture firm.

Festival attendees also took part in the judging through the People’s Choice vote. With the purchase of a tasting kit, chowder enthusiasts were given People’s Choice voting vouchers to award to their favorite professional and individual chowders — making for a day filled with loud cheering and friendly competition.

Team Silence of the Clams gathers around their mascot after serving the last of their Boston-style clam chowder to festival-goers. Photo by Prescott Watson.

Two teams from UCSC’s dining services competed with the support of Sammy the Slug roaming through the festival. Both won People’s Choice awards at the competition’s close. UCSC teams included first-place Professional Manhattan award winners UCSC Redwood Sluggers, led by UCSC executive chef Dwight Collins, and “Most Tasted” award winners UCSC Chowder Slugs, led by director of dining services Scott Berlin.

“We’re here representing university dining services and everyone is participating, from student employees all the way up to the director,” Berlin said. “These are the recipes we serve in the dining halls and [the Cook-Off] is a huge part of what we do during the year. This has always been a fun event for us and it involves a lot of teamwork. We take pride in what we do.”

Contestants were divided into two categories: professionals, which included restaurants and catering companies; and individuals, which included a group of independent chowder connoisseurs. For individual contender Peter Walligora, chef behind Pete’s Clamtastic Chowder of Salinas, Calif., experience in the restaurant division has brought him back to the competition as an individual contender for the past three years.

“I had been competing in the Cook-Off for five years with restaurants, and it was so much fun that I decided to come out and compete as an individual,” Walligora said. “I’ve been coming with my kids for years and we’ve always had fun. It’s a great family event, and who doesn’t love chowder?”

The event doubled as a fundraiser, with proceeds earned from tasting kits — which were sold for $9 and included five tastes — going to the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department. Over the past 30 years, the festival has served as one of the main fundraisers for Parks and Recreation Department programs.

Since the festival began in 1981 at the boardwalk’s Neptune’s Kingdom entertainment center, the epicurean event has raised over $950,000 to fund community centers, local events and activities, and the maintenance of public parks and beaches.

“The first cook-off and festival was held on the 75th anniversary of the boardwalk,” said Marq Lipton, vice president of marketing and sales of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. “We wanted to bring special events back to the boardwalk, and one of the first events was the Clam Chowder Cook-Off.”

Modeled after the Santa Cruz Chili Cook-Off, which was reintroduced in October 2010 for the first time since the late 1980s, the Clam Chowder Cook-Off was organized by boardwalk special events coordinators in collaboration with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Organizers hoped to promote boardwalk events in addition to holding a celebration of the popular soup staple that would bring people into Santa Cruz during the off-season.

“The festival has … become one of the big attractions in Santa Cruz and it really showcases the variety and quality of culinary experience in this city and throughout the area,” Lipton said. “It features a unique side of Santa Cruz in the off-season, and so many people have come out to experience it year after year, rain or shine.”

The Clam Chowder Cook-Off has grown from its 20-competitor size in 1981 to a showdown among 74 chowder teams. It is one of the largest events in the Santa Cruz area, with attendees ranging from locals and students to tourists and chowder enthusiasts.

“The event has really grown down the boardwalk over the years,” said Karen Hamilton, a KWAV 97 FM radio host and one of the event’s announcers. “I’ve been working with the festival for nine years now, and each year you see more and more people come out from all over to taste the different chowders and vote for their favorites.”

Alongside the UCSC Redwood Sluggers for the Professional Manhattan first-place win was Grandma’s Clam Diggers of Aptos, who won for the Individual Manhattan division.

“There [were] so many people there, and everyone just had a great time — from the workers and contestants to those who came to taste all of these delicious chowders,” Hamilton said. “This is truly the definition of a festival.”

Other award winners were announced by the festival’s panel of judges, including awards for the Most Original teams. A full list of winners can be found at Beachboardwalk.com.

Second-years Greg Gerschenson, Ahil PonArul and Jon Tong hit the slopes in homemade sleds last Saturday at Red Bull’s Schlittentag event, hosted at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. Photo by Sal Ingram.

“We are going to die.”

That was the conclusion College Nine second-year Greg Gerschenson reached as he drove College Ten second-years Ahil Ponarul and Jon Tong to Alpine Meadows Ski Resort on Saturday, April 9. The trio were discussing their plans for Red Bull’s Schlittentag.

“Every possible scenario I can think of ends in all of us dying,” Gerschenson said.

Schlittentag, German for “Sledding Day,” is an event Red Bull holds at various ski resorts across the nation. Event participants build sleds from found materials and ride them down a course. Teams compete under team names reflecting their chosen theme. This year’s Schlittentag saw igloo-riding eskimos and three men in a tub tearing down the Tahoe slope.

One week before Schlittentag, Gerchenson, Tong and Ponarul decided they wanted to bring some UC Santa Cruz representation to the slope. While teams were not required to be affiliated with a college, the event was marketed towards university students. Consequently, a significant number of the teams displayed some form of school spirit.

Two days before Schlittentag, the trio started gathering supplies to make their sleds. Having started later than most, the group from UCSC said they did not have their eyes on one of the top three positions. Sleds at Schlittentag are scored on a 100-point scale, with 50 going to speed, 25 to creativity and 25 to style. Gerchenson said they were more concerned with just having a good time than with winning.

“Well, we’re going to enjoy ourselves,” Gerchenson said. “Maybe we’ll get best crash — that would be awesome.”

Another team led by UCSC second-year Samuel Bruns was slated to compete, but had to back out at the last minute due to a family emergency. This left Gerchenson, Tong and Ponarul with an extra sled and the idea of splitting into two teams.

Gerchenson decided to use a plank of wood Bruns had found, attach skis and a beach chair to it and adopt the team name “Wait.. This Isn’t Cabo.” He completed the outfit with board shorts, a tank top and flip-flops. Unable to transport his entire sled from Santa Cruz to Tahoe, Gerchenson built it just minutes before he took it down the slope. Saying that his sled may not have been the best, he remained confident that he would be able to make it work.

“My sled is probably about 70 [percent prepared for the course],” Gerchenson said. “But I’m around 100.”

Gerchenson was the first person to register on-site at the competition, so he was given the honor of going first.

When constructing the sled, Gerchenson underestimated the effect that all the duct tape he put on the bottom would have. The friction created by the layers of duct tape holding on the skis brought his sled to a halt before he reached the first jump in the course. However, after giving himself a few pushes, he was slowly but surely able to make it to the bottom.

“At least I can say I had the safest sled out there,” Gerchenson said.

Team Banana Swag, comprised of the banana-suit-clad duo Tong and Ponarul, had a little more success. Riding face-first on boogie boards rented from OPERS, they launched themselves down the hill separately because, as Tong said, “Two slugs are better than one.” Tong picked up more speed on the course and finished with a clean run. Ponarul trailed behind by a few yards and lost his momentum before the last jump, slowly sliding across the finish line.

Neither team managed to place in the competition, as only the top three and best crash were announced. First place went to a golf cart mounted on snowboards and second was awarded to a Bat-mobile replica built and manned by the family of UCSC third-year Tessa Santos. Best crash went to a sled from Stanford that exploded into pieces when it hit the last jump. However, the failure to claim a prize didn’t bother Gerchenson.

“I didn’t expect [my sled] to be the safest sled,” Gerchenson said, “but at least I finished. And my sled didn’t explode like Stanford’s.”

And the trio is already looking forward to Schlittentag 2012. Gerchenson discussed contacting the Ski and Snowboard Club and having them make it one of their events in order to increase the UCSC participation. Ultimately, all three of the UCSC participants said that the best part of Schlittentag was that it provided a unique, albeit slightly wacky, way to show their school pride.

“In the end [winning] didn’t matter,” Gerchenson said. “We went with an idea, executed it, and it went well. It was fun and I got to represent my school for a little bit.”

Photo by Sal Ingram.

Freshman Julian Laguisma practices for the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Club’s national tournament this weekend in Richmond, Va. Photo by Sal Ingram.

Photo by Sal Ingram.

It’s not every season that UC Santa Cruz athletes get attention at the national level. However, this weekend Banana Slug athletics might be able to make a name for itself in the gymnastics world on the back of a 5’6″ freshman.

This weekend, Julian Laguisma will be competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) championship tournament in Richmond, Virginia. Laguisma will be the sole representative from the College Gymnastics Club at UCSC this year, and the third in the program’s history.

Founded in 2006 by UCSC graduate Andrew McMartin, the College Gymnastics Club fields competitors on both the regional and national level. McMartin created the club with the intention of it also being a recreational club for people of all skill levels.

As the club is not entirely focused on competing, it does not always send members to national competitions. Laguisma, who qualified by competing in two club meets earlier this year, is the first gymnast from the College Gymnastics Club since 2009 to attend nationals.

A competitive gymnast since the age of 12, Laguisma joined the club in fall quarter and has since become one of its premier gymnasts. Michelle Telegas, owner of the Santa Cruz Sports Central gym where the team practices, has been watching Lagusima and noted that his skill level makes him stand out among the other members of the club.

“He’s definitely one of the strongest gymnasts in the UCSC club program,” Telegas said. “He makes his routines satisfy the rules and play to his strengths.”

In the five years since its founding, the College Gymnastics Club has grown into one of the bigger collegiate clubs on the west coast. On Feb. 26 the club hosted the fourth annual Banana Slug Salto, a tournament that outgrew the Santa Cruz Sports Central gym this year. Drawing teams from as far as Oregon State University and UC San Diego, the competition had to be moved to a larger gym in south San Francisco to accommodate the number of entrants.

“The program has made a lot of progress and exceeded my expectations,” McMartin said. “We started years ago as this small ‘let’s get together’ thing and now we are one of the biggest clubs on the west coast.”

Laguisma placed third in the all-around event at this year’s Banana Slug Salto and has since turned his attention to nationals. His demanding regimen — practices about five times a week at both the Santa Cruz Sports Central gym and the Santa Cruz Gymnastics Center — is necessary for the challenges ahead. He will be competing in every category at nationals. This means prepared routines for pommel horse, rings, vault parallel bars, horizontal bar and the floor.

While this is his first time at nationals, Laguisma has high hopes for his performance. The tournament has six preliminary round sections, with the top four from each section going on to a final round. In addition to the individual event competitions there is also an all-around event that combines all the different routines.

After watching videos from last year’s competition, Laguisma feels confident that he can achieve at least moderate success in the tournament this weekend.

“From what I saw, I could be competitive in floor and vault because those are the two main events that I focus on,” Laguisma said. “If I could place top three in vault or floor that would be great.”

Laguisma’s success would not only be a personal achievement, but a definite step forward in bringing the gymnastics program further into the UCSC sports consciousness. As of right now, the team is not affiliated with the school on the NCAA or club level. Rather, the College Gymnastics Club is a student organization that fields a team in these tournaments.

McMartin, who now serves on the board of directors for NAIGC, sees these national competitions as opportunities to strengthen UCSC’s presence in the gymnastics world.

“I would love to see UCSC take up a stronger tradition of sending athletes to the national level,” McMartin said. “I also hope that UCSC will able to take on a leadership level, not only on the west coast but across the country as well.”

Telegas, who is also a member of USA Gymnastics, the governing body of gymnastics in the United States, says that she, too, would like to see the program grow. Telegas has allowed the club to use her facilities since its creations and thinks that continued success could lead to a further establishment of the program at UCSC.

“I would love to see [UCSC gymnastics] become completely affiliated with the school, become a full club sport,” Telegas said.

Telegas and McMartin are both focusing on how Laguisma will do in Richmond this weekend. McMartin said that his competition will be stiff, noting that he will be going up against the “big dogs in the country,” but is still confident in Laguisma’s ability.

“A lot of these guys are fielding competitors from very seasoned and matured programs, so I think it’s going to be tough,” McMartin said. “But my hopes are quite high.”

Laguisma shares those hopes. He said that the pressure is on him for this event, but he remains confident that he can succeed on the collegiate level.

Laguisma said he is confident that he’ll be successful if he has a clean routine.

“I know I can do it.”

Participants from UCSC work furiously to design a game in 48 hours for the Global Game Jam. At the end of the competition, games are rated on the Global Game Jam website. This year marks the biggest Jam thus far, attracting 6,500 participants from 44 different countries. Photo by Nick Paris.

The Baskin Engineering lecture hall is filled with 69 students, brought together by their passion for game design. The room grows quiet as the students discover what they will be spending the next 48 hours creating.

“This year’s theme is extinction,” UCSC event organizer Teale Fristoe said.

So began Global Game Jam 2011.

Global Game Jam is a worldwide game design and creation event. Now in its third year, the contest attracts students from universities around the world, with participating countries including China, New Zealand and Denmark. Students compete to create the best original game — either video or board — in just 48 hours.

The Game Jams are becoming increasingly popular. Participants this year doubled in number from past events. UCSC entered 13 teams, adding to the 6,500 participants from 170 locations in 44 countries that produced some 1,500 games.

Among the veteran game designers speaking at the opening ceremony on Jan. 28, was British programmer Graeme Devine. Devine, an experienced video game enthusiast, offered words of encouragement for those embarking on the 48-hour design challenge.

Devine encouraged the designers “to scope your designs — focus on the play mechanic you most treasure — your passion, if you will.”

As the 48-hour deadline drew closer, students grew fatigued.

The students, fighting off sleep by downing whole cans of energy drinks, huddled around glowing computer monitors. In the background, the sound of people arguing over whether or not to include pirates, ninjas, zombies or space-marines in their games made the air buzz. Slowly but surely, finished designs began to appear.

Reproduction — a single-screen, brightly colored strategy game — featured a small herd of pixelated moose competing for meat, mates and survival.

Tower of Corpses set the player to the task of creating and climbing a tower of alien corpses. Despite being the brainchildren behind the game, even the creators had no idea what truly lay at the top of the tower, just that defeating it would somehow save the Earth.

By 4:30 on Sunday afternoon, 48 hours after they had begun, the 13 teams met to demonstrate their products in the hope of being crowned the winner of the UCSC 2011 contingency.

All present were allowed to vote for their three favorite UCSC games.

While some games grabbed the attention of all, some voters were critical.

“Some [games] are really impressive — some are just a step away from another game,” said graduate student and spectator John Murray.

Murray was critical of many of the titles he reviewed, saying some of the content was overly outrageous, and “pushed the boundaries of what can be considered a game.”

On a global scale, four of the 10 grand winners were Finnish, with others from locations like China and New York City. Despite not making the top 10, the UCSC team Sock Puppet Cabaret took solace in winning the local prize, a gift voucher for the Bay Tree Bookstore.

The winning title, computer game Generate Exterminate, in which two players compete to first nurture planets, before destroying them and dragging what remained into constantly moving wormholes.

“Think of it as a tug-of-war with planets,” one of the team’s programmers said.

One of the team’s five programmers, Ryan Loeb, was stunned, saying that it was his first time participating in Game Jam. Loeb said his team recognized sleep as a critical aspect and tried to get a lot of it. Their tactical move, along with general collaboration, resulted in their winning the contest.

In just 48 hours, 69 UCSC students proved just what could be achieved with small teams of developers who come together through their passion for game design.

As the contest came to a close and the tired programmers began to return to their lives, former contestant Kevin Meggs reflected on the event.

“I did it last year — it was a lot of fun,” he said. “If it’s something you’re passionate about, when the weekend rolls around you can step back and say ‘I helped
create this.’”

With the new name the Jay at Mavericks, the world-famous surf competition promises the same great waves and history making surf-runs, but its new management reflects a higher dedication to the sport and its players. Photo by Nick Paris.

Kenny Collins, a Santa Cruz veteran surfer (third from the left), bows his head with other competitors in the Jay Moriarty Mavericks Surf Competition. The surfers remembered Jay Moriarty, a friend and fellow surfer for whom the contest is named. Moriarty was killed in a tragic diving accident in the Maldives in 2001. Photo by Nick Paris.

For them, last Monday’s opening ceremony to the Jay Moriarty Big Wave Invitational was the dawn of a new chapter in big wave surf history. The opening ceremony was the culmination of a long-standing conflict between the surfers and the previous permit holder of the competition’s location, Mavericks Surf Ventures.

In 2004, Mavericks Surf Ventures began hosting the Mavericks Big Wave Surf Invitational near Half Moon Bay. The company, named after the competition’s location, had annually attracted thousands of viewers to watch the daring surfers tackle the Goliath waves. The scene is a dream for many a big wave surfer: 80-foot swells, California sunshine and the biggest names in surfing around the world.

Hawaiian big wave surfer Jamie Sterling, current leader in the Big Wave World Tour, recalls some of his best moments in surfing that happened at Mavericks.

“Mavericks generates the perfect swells,” Sterling said. “It breaks in a defined reef location consistently, and has some of the biggest waves in the world. The Jay pushes the evolution of big wave surfing to the next level by bringing together the most stellar athlete line-up from around the world. In this way, all oceans meet at Mavericks.”

But in recent years, the competition has been mired in poor management, angering both the surf competitors and the competition’s sponsors, veteran surfer Grant Washburn said.

“[Mavericks Surf Ventures] was going to do whatever it wanted to do, regardless of what we thought,” Washburn said. “They were taking all of the money provided by the competition’s sponsors to spend on other company events and merchandise. They wouldn’t — no, couldn’t — pay the judges, the staff or even the prize money to the winning surfers.”

Washburn’s comments reflected the attitude of the international surfing community as a whole, unhappy with Mavericks Surf Ventures for commercializing one of the largest surf events in the globe.

“When they forced Jeff [Clark] out of the competition, the guy who made Mavericks what it is today, none of the surfers were happy then,” Washburn said. “When they were cutting the smaller prizes out to just give one big prize to the top winner, we weren’t happy then either. But we all banded together then just as we are now … [Mavericks Surf Ventures] had this coming.”

In October, the Half Moon Bay Surf Group, composed of veteran Mavericks competitors in conjunction with Barracuda Networks, succeeded in a prolonged campaign against Mavericks Surf Ventures over the permit for the competition’s location.

The competition, renamed the Jay Moriarty Big Wave Invitational — or “the Jay,” for short — is named after the late Jay Moriarty, an avid surfer who died in a diving accident. In the huddle of Moriarty’s friends and family at the opening ceremony, not a single story passed without describing him as “stoked.”

But more than just the event’s name has changed.

One third of this year’s competitors hail from Santa Cruz, the rest coming from other prominent international surf spots such as Australia, South Africa, Brazil and other U.S. surf locales. Kenny “Skindog” Collins, winner of Billabong’s 2010 XXL Ride of the Year, is one of the surfers from Santa Cruz invited to compete at the Jay this season.

“We’re a real close community,” Collins said. “You can see we’re all out here just doing what we love doing most. Now that the old management, Mavericks [Surf Ventures] is out, and we, the surfers, are in, things are awesome. No other contest is run like this.”

The event has had an overhaul in its managing scheme, now being geared as a non-profit event — its earnings going towards supporting local charities. The invitations to the event are now allocated based on a vote among the surfers handling the Jay, as opposed to being chosen by Mavericks Surf Ventures. In short, every facet of the world-renowned competition is now solidly in the hands of its surfers.

“These shores have a global reputation and a dedicated bunch of dudes who love to surf them,” Collins said. “It’s no surprise that so many surfers from Santa Cruz — surf culture central — should care about what happens at Mavericks.”

To see the wave riders out on the water and hear the shore roar from the beach-side crowd, it’s clear that Mavericks this year belongs to none other than the surfers themselves.

Bookshop Santa Cruz, a downtown fixture since 1966, has opened the submission period for its annual photography contest with hopes that more UCSC students will enter the competition this year. Photo by Kathryn Power.

Every year, Bookshop Santa Cruz holds a series of contests in which aspiring authors and photographers can convey their visions to the local community — and every year, the staff at Bookshop Santa Cruz is blown away by the submissions. May 25 marks the beginning of the submission period for this year’s photography contest, which is already a source of excitement for Bookshop Santa Cruz employees.

“The images are all really creative, and the bulk of them are taken by amateur photographers,” said Casey Coonerty, Bookshop Santa Cruz owner and manager. Her family has owned the independent bookstore since 1973.

The annual photography contest will conclude by celebrating its 16th birthday in autumn 2010. Students, locals, and anyone else interested in participating are encouraged to send in an image that displays a unique visual representation of what it means to read.

The photo contest — which receives at least 100 submissions annually—calls for a unique expression of reading. Those who are eager to express their ideas are also drawn by the prizes offered to the first, second, and third place winners, which include gift certificates of $250, publishing of submissions online, and a display of submissions in the store.

Takaki Metoki, a Santa Cruz local who has participated in the contest in the past, was eager to get started on his submission for this year’s competition.

“I’ve been brainstorming ideas, but I don’t have a really definite idea right now,” he said.

According to Coonerty, past submissions have been extremely varied. Coonerty has seen pictures taken in places all over the world, from shantytowns in developing countries to right here in Santa Cruz.

Bookshop Santa Cruz employees have expressed an interest in seeing more participation from UC Santa Cruz students in the contest.

“Students offer ideas that reflect their place in the community,” said Adrienne Mages, a Bookshop Santa Cruz employee. “I think we’d all like to have more students get involved in the contest.”

Employees look forward to judging the photos and selecting a winner. Submissions are due on September 1, which allows ample time to select a photo for submission. Coonerty also said that the Bookshop accepts submissions via U.S. mail so that the contest is more accessible to community members at a distance. Literary enthusiasts are encouraged to apply.

The 2010 Global Game Jam, an annual indie game competition that challenges teams from across the nation to develop an innovative game in just 48 hours, is going on right now. Yes, like right now.

Even better, UC Santa Cruz has a delegation representing the good ol’ Banana Slugs. Yay! You can head over to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/global-game-jam-santa-cruz to watch them live. UCSC is just one of 138 locations across the globe participating in the event.

With so much competition, they need our support! So head on over and cheer ‘em on. The jam ends at 4 p.m. Sunday.

If you’re curious to learn more about the GGJ and to watch teams across the world live, check out the links below.

Global Game Jam at UCSC [UCSC SoE]
Global Site for the GGJ [IGDA]

At the end of Friday night Jackie Olin, the creator of the business Sustainabites Baby Food, was announced the winner of UCSC’s first Business Plan Competition. Photo by Morgan Grana.

“Do you know what’s in your food? What about your baby’s food? The average baby food sits on a shelf for two years before ending [up] in front of your child,” said Jackie Olin, one of seven finalists in UC Santa Cruz’s first-ever Business Plan Competition (BPC), as she presented her business plan to a panel of judges. “Sustainabites is a local, fresh and seasonal baby food company that will work to provide consumers with ‘farm-to-fork’ information, where you can trace your child’s food back to the farm.” 

Olin, a recent UCSC graduate, was not only a finalist but also the winner of the competition. After all seven teams presented their future companies and entrepreneurships, a panel of eight judges, — constituted of successful CEOs, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and lawyers from Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley — retired to a quiet room to decide on a winner. 

The Ringold Rotunda, where the reception was held, was anything but quiet. The event was a success in attracting people from the city, the university, and “over the hill.” Everyone mingled noisily in this ambitious and creative atmosphere, as students rubbed shoulders with CEOs and inventors.

Santa Cruz mayor Cynthia Mathews attended the event. 

“The energy, the excitement and the potential in this room is amazing,” Mathews said. “It’s everything we hoped it would be.”

As for Olin’s Sustainabites, Mathews said she is happy with the judges’ choice. 

“Our goal and motivation in this competition was to help a business that would stay and prosper in Santa Cruz,” Mathews said. “It’s a perfect match.”

The BPC was organized by a group of seven highly motivated UCSC students led by Eric Gonzalez, a recent UCSC graduate and former president of the University Economic Association. 

Divya Sharma is the co-chair of the BPC and a second-year majoring in business management economics and industrial engineering and operations research. 

“There have been some ups and downs, and I’ve loved every second of it,” Sharma said. “I’ve had students come to me and say that having this competition has changed the direction they were heading towards. It’s been a very rewarding four months, and the competition has far exceeded our expectations.” 

Although Sharma is transferring next year, this competition, she said, will be her lasting legacy at UCSC. 

Chancellor George Blumenthal said he was enthusiastic about the effort put into the BPC by the team of students. 

The competition represents “what we are as a university — encouraging students and their ideas,” he said.

“Who knows, maybe they’ll create the next Microsoft,” Blumenthal joked. “On second thought, maybe not something that big. Maybe just the next Google.”

With other teams boasting online services, video game programming, pharmaceutical compliances and biomolecular engineering, Olin said she saw herself as the local underdog. But in the end, her hard work was rewarded with a $12,000 jumbo check. 

“This is awesome,” Olin said. “Don’t ever worry about being the dark horse. This is it right here — this is what will enable us to stay in Santa Cruz. I have all the permits, the knowledge, the kitchen, everything lined up.”

Thanks to the competition, Olin said, Sustainabites will become a reality, and “you will see us in the farmers market two months from now.”

This premier BPC was an immense success, creating important partnerships and generating over $20,000 in funding and donations. BPC founder Gonzalez has big plans for the young competition as preparations are made for next year. 

“I hope it becomes a foundation for the university,” Gonzalez said. “The students here are entrepreneurial, creative and the best people I’ve ever met. They’re people I can count on to make a difference.”