A team of four high school students from Washtenaw Technical Middle College (WTMC), located on the Washtenaw Community College (WCC) campus, have designed an app that has reached the finals of a national championship for social innovation.
The app, called Athletassist, is created to improve communication between injured athletes, coaches and medical staff and helps athletes identify areas of pain, rank their discomfort level and communicate directly with coaches about their injuries.
The local students, who are dual-enrolled college students at WCC, form the only team from Michigan to ever compete in the Future Bound Junior Achievement National Finals for the Social Innovation Challenge at Georgia State University in Atlanta, June 8-12.
The Social Innovation Challenge is a national competition in which high school students are invited to submit their innovative ideas for improving and making an impact on their communities. This event brings together students, educators and industry leaders to explore hands-on learning experiences, unlock new career pathways and gain the skills needed to thrive in the evolving world of work.
All four students are incoming high school seniors who will graduate next spring (2026) with a high school diploma from WTMC and an associate degree from WCC. The students are: Quinn Lowen, Chief Legal Officer, from Ann Arbor; Norman Martin, Chief Executive Officer, from Livonia; Roman Karas, Chief Strategy Officer, from Ann Arbor; and Justus Hibbler, Chief Technology Officer, from Ann Arbor.
WCC Communication Instructor Claire Sparklin is the team's college Entrepreneurship Club advisor who delivered the Junior Achievement Entrepreneurship curriculum to the students, tailoring it specifically to the business idea they were working on. She also supported them as they managed their Social Innovation Challenge entry submission and preparation for the national event, connecting them with the resources of JA Southeastern Michigan, Washtenaw Community College's Entrepreneurship Center and Bailey Library.
WTMC students are trained in valuable educational and career success soft skills, take WCC classes and have full access to all the college’s resources.
“When Roman came to me with this business idea, it sounded exciting and viable,” Sparklin said. “I knew I wanted to support them to see how far they could take it. I am in awe of their focus and determination. It's rare to work with a group of young students this passionate and driven. They saw a problem in youth sports and they keep working to be part of the solution. That's inspiring!”
Athletassist is designed as a tool for student-athletes, coaches and trainers looking to prevent injuries and optimize performance. By leveraging data, injury trends and personalized risk assessments, Athletassist could help users make informed decisions about training, recovery and overall well-being.
The app focuses on injury prevention from the ground up and is designed with coaches and trainers in mind, offering helpful risk analysis, performance and recovery tracking, data visualization and reports, and mobile and web accessibility. The goal of the app is to help reduce the risk of sports injuries, provide performance optimization and enhance athlete training and recovery. Athletassist’s interactive Decision-Making Simulator lets users test scenarios and make smarter decisions about training, recovery and performance strategies.