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8 The College of New Jersey Magazine P R A I R I E S arah Sleiman '19 and her buSineSS partnerS were nervous. As one of three finalist teams, they were sitting in front of the stage of Mayo Concert Hall in early April, having already made their pitch in the 2019 Mayo Business Plan Competition for Code the Future, their existing business that brings STEM education to students in grades 2–8. They faced a panel of judges who, any moment now, would divvy up among the teams $60,000 in prize money. The first-place winner would walk away with 30 grand. Code the Future had just made $30,000 in one evening. several libraries and community centers to provide introductory coding workshops for elementary and middle school students. The company has worked with nearly 450 students since its inception. In addition to its four core members, it employs four mentors who teach the programs and one account executive who focuses on closing contracts with schools. Now, as seniors who wanted to beat their own record and reach even more young students, Code the Future held their breath. The judges announced third place — and Code the Future didn't hear their name. Then the moment they had been working toward for so long: "When they called out the second-place team, and it wasn't us, I was so happy," Sleiman says. Code the Future had just made $30,000 in one evening. it'S a Savvy group. Sleiman, at just 21 years old, already speaks like a CEO — someone who considers growth and marketability and maintains big-picture visibility. In a world where AI is quickly becoming mainstream, Code the Future is dedicated to helping young students adapt. Sleiman wants students to Code the Future had been through three rounds of compe- tition to get there, and Sleiman hoped for more than third place. "[The wait] for third prize is the scariest," says Sleiman. "It's the lowest you can place once you get to that stage." To be fair, Code the Future had already taken third. It was just three years ago that they had been the first-ever team of freshmen to make it to the finals of the competition. Back then, they were Team Elementary Robotics, and they knew that a win of any kind came with no obligation to actually start a business. Students could just as easily pocket the money, take a road trip, or put it toward a new car. Even so, Sleiman's team took their third-place prize of $6,000 and sunk it right back into the company. For the next two and a half years she and her team — fellow seniors Dominic Clark, Pulkit Gupta, Megha Rathi — grew the company. Today, Code the Future is in contract with three schools in central New Jersey and in partnership with

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