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The presented UTampa students with a problem: How can they recruit and retain coaches who will stick with the program over time?

Girls on the Run is a national nonprofit that helps elementary- and middle school-aged girls develop confidence through running. The organization uses volunteer coaches, like Associate Dean Kathryn Branch of the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education, who has volunteered with the group for years. But volunteer longevity is typically a challenge for the organization, and the local chapter, which has many educators in its volunteer ranks, wondered how they could widen their volunteer network from educators to other members of the community.

Branch discussed the issue with colleagues who were developing a problem-solving competition for CSSME’s newly developed Institute for Problem Solving. They saw the problem as an opportunity for students to tackle.

On Wednesday, teams of students pitched their solutions in front of an audience in Reeves Theatre. They had up to 10 minutes to pitch their ideas, with five minutes for questions from judges.

The winning team, called Team Momentum, proposed what they called “Mission Empower” and suggested recruiting veterans to coach the running groups. There are 1.2 million veterans in Florida alone, and veterans are 35% more likely to volunteer in their communities than non-veterans, the students stated.

Team Momentum suggested partnering with veteran organizations throughout Tampa to recruit. They also recommended adding two staff roles at Girls on the Run to cover transportation and administrative tasks.

“They identified a population that was new and haven’t been tapped into,” said Branch, who was one of the judges.

The second-place team also suggested adding new roles to the organization through partnering with university students, implementing academic service learning. Under their plan, three new roles would provide experience for students: marketing and coaching; applied research; and administrative.

Girls on the Run Tampa Bay leaders said they were impressed by the students’ pitches. Executive Director Lauren Leavine said all the ideas had parts that they would consider.