Season 10 National Championship: Students Rise to the Challenge for Veterans Community Project
Kansas City, MO – September 24, 2026 – Operation Breakthrough’s Ignition Lab recently served as the ultimate host for the Make48 Season 10 National Championship. Seven powerhouse regional winning teams gathered in Kansas City, bringing their creativity, grind, and team spirit together to tackle a meaningful, real-world challenge in partnership with Veterans Community Project (VCP).
The Mission: Empowering Veterans Community Project
Founded in Kansas City, the Veterans Community Project is dedicated to ending veteran homelessness through a specialized approach: building tiny-home villages paired with wraparound, walk-in support services that serve any veteran, regardless of discharge status or branch of service.
After the clock started, teams and Tool Techs toured the VCP campus, experiencing the Tiny Home Village, commissary, and outreach center firsthand. Inspired by this mission, the overarching prompt tasked makers with designing a product that strengthens the VCP community and elevates the daily experience for veterans, visitors, volunteers, and supporters.
Teams selected one of four unique design prompts:
The Giving Station: Transforming standard donation bins into secure, story-driven retail donation hubs that inspire shoppers to support VCP's food pantry.
The Tiny Home Trade Show: Building a lightweight, flat-packing display that one person can set up in under 10 minutes, bringing the Tiny Home Village to life at dozens of outreach events each year.
The Community Garden: Developing an accessible, weather-resilient system that invites residents to gather, garden, and connect, turning green space into a thriving community anchor.
Tiny Home Living: Engineering multi-functional, space-saving storage or furniture under 300 square feet that enhances comfort without cluttering the home’s compact footprint.
To cross the finish line, each team had 48 hours to deliver a physical prototype, a digital SketchUp model, a one-page sales sheet with projected manufacturing costs, and a one-minute product pitch video.
Celebrating Our Champions
Evaluating seven innovative builds was no easy task. Our esteemed judging panel included Rose Shotwell (Veterans Community Project), Beth Tucker (Westlake Ace Hardware), and Dr. Evelyn Etienne (Operation Breakthrough). They carefully reviewed every prototype, weighed the designs against the challenge requirements, and debated every detail before reaching their final decision.
After an intense 48 hours of design and fabrication, top honors and ultimate season bragging rights went to Architecting the Mastery! The talented student trio from Cotter School (Winona, MN) – Jack Slaggie, Jaxson Greshik, and Brielle Staudacher, guided by their teacher Eric Paulsen – took home the first-place prize of $10,000 alongside a custom trophy built on-site by Make48 Tool Techs.
Audience support was just as fierce for the People’s Choice Award, presented to The Bears from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Teammates Logan Blalock, Ben Bower, Jack Firkus, alongside their teacher Eric Olson, won over the crowd with a standout pitch, taking home a custom-built trophy and $400 in gift cards, generously provided by Westlake Ace Hardware.
A huge thank you to all the teams, our incredible tool techs, and especially our friends at Operation Breakthrough and VCP for opening their doors, sharing their mission, and making this championship unforgettable.
The entire competition was filmed and will air soon on Roku’s This Old House Makers Channel. Stay tuned next week as we share a deeper look at the event recap and highlight reel.
Until then, stay inspired and keep making!
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