Emily Jenkins and Sophie Greear won the 2026 ETSU Elevates Pitch Competition with “Play it Forward,” a project focused on music education for students in underserved areas.

East Tennessee State University juniors Emily Jenkins and Sophie Greear took first place in the annual ETSU Elevates Pitch Competition on Monday, Oct. 5, with “Play it Forward,” a project designed to provide foundational music lessons to children in grades K-8 who have limited access to music education.  

Through their project, Jenkins and Greear created accessible, engaging music opportunities at Coalition for Kids, their community partner. During their four-week summer program, they worked with first, third and fifth graders, conducting fun, interactive music lessons that introduced the students to different genres of music.

Jenkins, of Mars Hill, North Carolina, and Greear, of Jonesborough, both junior biomedical sciences majors aspiring to become rural physicians, said that music education is important for children’s social and cognitive development. “Play it Forward” focuses on removing barriers to music education, such as cost, location and proximity to instructors, and Jenkins and Greear plan to use their $3,000 first-prize earnings to broaden their impact into underserved areas by purchasing instruments and developing a student-based volunteer program to provide lessons.

The faculty mentor for their project is Dr. Steph Frye-Clark, associate professor of music and interim director of the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts, part of the Phil and Martha Bachman College of Arts and Sciences at ETSU.

The $2,000 second-place award went to Sarah Joseph and Zara Rashid, whose “Connecting Beyond Barriers” pitch focuses on housing instability and homelessness in their project with The River. Their efforts will provide opportunities designed to build and strengthen meaningful relationships that create a sense of belonging at The River. Joseph is a junior biomedical health science major from Gallatin, and Rashid is a junior from Jonesborough majoring in microbiology.

Hunter Mehaffey and Corey Ray took the $1,000 third place prize with “You Decide,” a project focusing on a digital crisis of misinformation and low media literacy among young people. Working with their partner, East Tennessee Artscapes, their project provides an innovative, arts-based and hands-on approach rooted in tactile truth to reframe media literacy as a survival skill. Mehaffey, of Waynesville, North Carolina, and Ray, of Kingsport, are both seniors majoring in media and communication.

The People’s Choice Award, which also brought a $1,000 prize and was selected by the audience, was presented to Lauren Yobst, whose “Healthy Together” project focuses on connecting human and pet wellness through accessible, preventive healthcare and education for individuals experiencing homelessness. In partnership with Good Samaritan Ministries, she is working to improve the health and well-being of people and their pets by providing health screenings, vaccinations, wellness resources and community support. Yobst is a sophomore biomedical health sciences major from Johnson City.

Seven teams in all presented their plans to a live audience and three judges in this year’s ETSU Elevates competition, which invested a total of $21,000 into the region and marks the first time ETSU Elevates has had four unique winners, according to Dr. Susan McCracken, ETSU vice provost for Community Engagement, who said that in the past, the People’s Choice Award has gone to students whose projects won first or second place.

Judges for this year’s competition were Corey Blaske, a Johnson City real estate professional and community advocate; Lottie Ryans, who recently retired as director of Workforce and Literacy Initiatives at the First Tennessee Development District and former Johnson City Board of Education member; and Layne Maddox, an ETSU graduate and 2024 ETSU Elevates third prize winner.

ETSU Elevates is a community-engaged leadership experience in which students tackle a societal challenge facing the region by conceptualizing, designing and implementing a service-based solution. Working in collaboration with community partners and ETSU faculty, each team received $2,000 in seed funding during the spring semester to pilot their project.

The ETSU Elevates Pitch Competition is the culmination of their efforts, providing an opportunity for the Elevates teams to showcase their projects and “pitch” how they want their projects to expand. The event is part of ETSU’s annual Founders Week celebration.

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