Giant light art, sliding barbell handles: Misericordia hosts business contest

DALLAS TWP. — It may have looked like a really large version of a popular toy where kids plug colorful bulbs into a black board full of holes and a light behind it. But Lackawanna College student Thomas Ohop noted he couldn’t call it by the trademarked name for said toy (it rhymes with “mite trite”).

He also pointed out he has already sold five of them at a profit of $56,000. So maybe that qualifies as a winner, even if he and his team don’t nab the the Collegiate division of the TecBRIDGE Business Plan Competition.

“I call it a multi-sensory device,” he said after pitching his product at the Presentation Finals of the competition in Misericordia University’s Bevevino Library. The board can help children with special learning abilities improve sensory motor skills and reach other developmental goals, he explained of the “Sensify” device he and teammates Joseph McLaughlin and Matthew Gusa presented, one of five companies devised by college students.

While Ohop said he was inspired to make the device by his autistic cousin, he also saw it could serve for adult entertainment — especially those who may have played with the mass-produced version as children. It comes in two sizes: four-foot-by-four-foot, with 900 holes, and four-foot-by-eight-foot, with 1,800 holes. The pegs that go into the holes are colored acrylic cylinders, and his demo model for the pitch — one of the four-by-four versions — sported a multi-colored heart shape with the letter S in it.

The Sensify can come with different-sized bases, primarily to put it at an appropriate height for different ages. While the bases can provide a little stability, Ohop said he sells the device with brackets and other hardware, as well as a warning that it must be wall mounted to be safe.

Collegiate presentations were made Thursday afternoon, with other entries from Alvernia University, Penn State Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, and Wilkes University. The presentation following Sensify was “Mann made Muscle,” a set of grips designed to clip over a barbell and slide if desired, allowing the person exercising to work more muscles in varied ways. The name came from two Wilkes students pitching the idea, Christopher and Nicolas Mann.

In the evening, five presentations were made in the non-collegiate division, giving a chance for others, including existing businesses, to vie for a prize.

Winners will be announced at an event slated for April 27 at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, TecBRIDGE, LLC Executive Director Donald Webster said. Along with one winner each in the collegiate and non-collegiate categories, their will be a “Wild Card” winner, essentially a people’s choice award from among the entrants.

The collegiate and non-collegiate winners will get $10,000 each, while the wild card will get $5,000. There is also $100,000 of in-kind services to be split equally, including things like legal service and a year’s free rent at a small business incubator.