A tool that has transformed the way the Zekelman School of Business plans its semesters was the winning entry in the 2022 Ford Innovation Showcase at St. Clair College.

Mohammad Vaqqas, a graduating student in the Data Analytics program, placed first for his Semester Loading Tool, which allows the school to plan its semester, transforming a four-week process into a matter of minutes.

“It allows you to efficiently choose your courses and staff for your programs,” Vaqqas said.

“You choose a program and it lists out all the programs and automatically chooses the professors,” Vaqqas said. “They were creating 50 Excel sheets to do that, over four weeks. Now they can just do it within a few minutes. They’re actually using it in the Zekelman School of Business.”

Vaqqas’s entry was one of 10 that showcased students’ projects in a variety of programs, such as Electromechanical Engineering – Robotics, Business Marketing, Landscape-Horticulture, Interior Design, Mobile Applications Development, and Social Justice and Legal Studies.

Ford Motor Company was the presenting sponsor, but many other businesses took part in the event, which also included mentoring and networking components.

Vaqqas won $2,500 from Ford Motor Company for his winning entry.

Other winners included:

$500 Air Canada Take Flight Award to Jamie Vallance, an Interior Design student, for her Mobile Trailer Boutique.

$500 Enwin Futures Leaders Award to Bethany D’Alimonte, a Business Marketing student, for her Enactus project interACT.

$750 Alumni Saints Nation Award to Robert Bloomfield, a Business Marketing student, for his project E.A.S.T.

$1,000 AIS Agile Award for Excellence in Automation to Deual Patel and Yash Soni, students in Robotics, for their Autonomous Guided Vehicle and UR Robotic Arm.

$1,750 Reko Innovation Showcase Award to Viral Makwana, a Robotics student, for his Autonomous Mushroom Harvesting project.

$2,000 Ford Innovation Showcase Award to Trevor Ramieri and Brianna Gaylord, Landscape-Horticulture students, for their Enactus project transPLANT.