March Economic Madness ran in 2021 and 2022 and was the first interscholastic student team competition to address problems of small or remote communities. It gave university students an opportunity to form teams and compete across universities in a hackathon style to come up with solutions for real communities seeking both sustainable growth and good quality of life for their citizens. Challenge participants addressed problems related to the need for small or remote communities to grow and thrive, while maintaining unique community identities and good quality of life for their citizens. We awarded over $50,000 to winning teams through this competition.
Student Team Criteria
Participating universities formed teams of students from at least two colleges/schools.
Awards
The top teams from each university competed in a final round. The team selected as winner of the final round was awarded $25,000. The winning team also brought home the March Economic Madness trophy to the team’s university to be displayed for one year.
Communities for Study
Registered teams were randomly assigned to communities. Each team studied a different community. Communities were cities and towns outside of major urban corridors, with populations between 15,000 and 90,000.
Judges
The March Economic Madness program was honored to have the following judges form the panel in 2022.
Linda Matthew, Ph.D
Associate Professor, Department of Population Health, Chief,
Division of Community Engagement and Health Equity, Faculty
Director, Community-Driven Initiatives
Joshua B. Barbour, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dept of Communication Studies
UT Austin
Nishi Viswanathan, MBBS, MBA
Director of Texas Health Catalyst, Health Ecosystem,
UT Austin
Austin, TX
2022 Student Finalist Presentations
First Place: Team Corsicana – A Telehealth Curriculum
Round 2 Finalists:
- Team Brownwood.
- Team Sweetwater: Familiarizing the unfamiliar.
- Team Stephenville.