Summary: AEM 4940 The Business of Sustainability with Boats
Professor: Trent Preszler
Part of the
Grand Challenges curriculum.
Winner of the Dyson Better Business Week Pitch Competition!
Students in this course are building a 16-foot wooden canoe to be donated to the HaudenosauneeCanoe Journey, a program that guides young people from the Onondaga Nation on a 13-day paddlingexpedition across the ancestral waterways of the Haudenosaunee people. Boatbuilding techniques areintroduced during class alongside a historical survey of the Indigenous cultural heritage of Upstate NewYork. Students participate in every aspect of our canoe construction while also completing an individualproject in critical self-reflection, to help connect hands-on work with research. Working in this team-based learning context, students will also be responsible for the business plan and execution necessaryto launch their canoe at a community-wide Ithaca Canoe Fest held in Cass Park on May 7, 2023.Students created this video as their successful submission to the Dyson Better Business Week PitchCompetition. All winnings are applied to project expenses. Community-engaged learning at its best!