Masters Hosts Second Global Diamond Challenge Pitch Event

2/26/2025

Think of the Diamond Challenge as “Shark Tank” for young innovators from around the world — an opportunity to have an impact on issues of concern, from a cryotherapy glove for chemotherapy patients to an eco-friendly solution to revolutionize the textile dyeing industry.

This Saturday, March 1, 32 teams from around the world (Canada, Korea, China) as well as nationally (New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas) will pitch and make presentations at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at Masters during the Diamond Challenge Pitch Round, a semi-final event of the prestigious global high school entrepreneurship competition.

Students who made it through the Diamond Challenge Submission Round, with a one-minute video and five-page concept narrative, are invited to participate in the Diamond Challenge Pitch Round. Masters is one of only four pitch event locations in the U.S., and this marks Masters' second year of hosting.

Masters has two teams advancing to the Pitch Round. Mason Dwek ’26 and Dylan Glaser ’25 (classmates and swim teammates) are the brains behind PolitiConnect, an app that optimizes information about state politicians' actions in the state senate, assembly and executive branch. Dwek was recently selected as one of the Top 100 Emerging Innovators of 2025 by Horn Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware, the creators of the Diamond Challenge.

“In Entrepreneurial Leadership class I had to write down consequential problem ideas and PolitiConnect was one of them,” Dwek said. “It was an election year. We were talking about politics, and I said ‘Hey Dylan, do you want to create an app?’ Once he said yes, we started to work out the logistics.”

Glaser said, “We felt like there was a necessity for this product. There's so much misinformation out there and it's not even that easy to find good political information on government websites. It's very dense and hard to understand so we thought this is something that we would want, we would use, and we realized it wasn't out there as well.”

Inspired by their love of scuba diving, Helen Gao ’27 and Gabriela Li ’27 founded OceanBloom, which aims to create 3D-printed solutions promoting coral reef regeneration and fostering thriving habitats for marine life. After witnessing firsthand the deteriorating condition of the ocean environment in Malaysia, Belize and Australia, they knew they had to do something.

“I wanted to participate in this competition because I’m interested in business and economics, and I wanted to connect that to environmental sustainability and the ocean which are my passions,” Li explained.

Gao was driven by her shared interest in protecting the ocean coupled with a curiosity for “inventing things and being a power for good in the world.” The two hope to introduce their model to the school community to raise awareness of protecting the ocean and reefs.

All teams will pitch their ideas before a panel of judges including CEOs, executives and experts from the world’s top companies. The keynote speaker will be Jason Jones, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder and head of growth at Tellen, an AI-powered finance and accounting firm.

“The Diamond Challenge invites these students to build solutions to solve problems they are passionate about and to join a growing community of innovators and changemakers,” said John Chiodo, director of innovation, engineering and computer science. “This year saw a record number of submissions and only a very select group of teams advanced to the pitch round.”

With prize money at stake, two teams will advance to the Diamond Challenge Finals at the Limitless World Summit in Delaware in May. The winners will be announced on Saturday afternoon.