Students from leading colleges and university in the central US are bidding for the opportunity to reach the US finals and represent the US in the worldwide Imagine Cup Finals. To reach their potential, these student teams need industry mentors to provide guidance, suggestions and inspiration.

Students are competing in the Imagine Cup Software Design Invitational (IC SDI). Their goal is to design technology business (with business plan and software) to solve some of the world toughest health, social and education challenges. Round 2 ends on March 8 so these teams could use just a couple hours of your time and the impact could last a life time.

What would a mentor do you might ask? Here is a short list.

• Spend one hour weekly with team on phone or in person

• Encourage teams to persevere

• Ask questions of students to encourage critical thinking

• Review their documents and give them suggestions based on judging rubric

• Answer questions and give guidance on any (or all) of the following topics

• General business questions

• Presentations skills

• Technical questions

Please email Martin Schray (mmschray@microsoft.com) if you have the availability and interest in becoming a mentor to a student team.