Creative people find outlets for their gifts through paint and canvas, a camera lens, ink and paper, clay on a potter’s wheel, or maybe a well-worn stage. But where’s the conduit for a great idea, such as a web application or nonprofit?

The Furman Creative Collaborative’s Innovation Hour is one avenue for students to pitch those ideas to a group of professionals.

In partnership with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Innovation Hour has wrapped its third installment of the class. Since mid-September, presenters have offered their ideas to OLLI members on Zoom. On November 12, winners were announced, and $6,000 in prize money was divvied up to help student innovators develop their work.

Selected from a cohort of 11, the winning projects are:

From left: Ian McPherson ’23, Andrew McHorse ’23, Eli Thitherington ’22

1st place: Hobby, an online platform that builds community through sharing new experiences, skills, and projects. Leveraging an increasingly virtual world, the creators say the platform focuses on social connection, building fellowship between users, and allowing for unique relationships between content creators and consumers.

Winners fetching a share of the $3,500 include biology major Ian McPherson ’23, sustainability science major Andrew McHorse ’23 and Eli Titherington ’22, a public health major.

“The win is a huge confirmation that this idea has potential,” Titherington said, speaking on behalf of the three honorees. “Over the next several months, our team will be working to build out our idea – creating concept marketing, presentation materials and a model of our