Shape Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs, Today

A Conrad coach is an educator, parent or other mentor who makes a lasting difference in the world by empowering youth to integrate innovation into their STEM education. Student teams are required to recruit a coach during the Activation Stage of the Challenge in order to compete.

Become a team’s coach and help them become the best they can be.

Conrad coaches advise their teams by helping students with planning, reminding teams about competition requirements, asking non-directive questions, and giving occasional suggestions. Coaches offer a light touch, nudging their teams toward success while ensuring that their students remain in the driver’s seat of their own creative process and learning. In this way, the role of the coach in the Conrad Challenge is different from that of a sports coach: the Conrad coach does not plan strategies, lead meetings, or propose solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can be a coach?

Any adult who is 18 years or older with an interest in working with and advising young people may coach a team. A coach may be an educator, a parent, or another mentor. Coaches are recruited by their student teams during the Activation Stage of the competition. In the past, Coaches have met their student teams from the classroom, clubs, after school programs, summer programs, enrichment programs, museums, and home.

Can I coach students in my classroom?

Many of our best Conrad coaches also teach their teams in the classroom. Especially if you teach research, robotics, entrepreneurship, science, computer science, or any other applied subject, we recommend you encourage your students to compete in the Conrad Challenge. If they sign up, we hope you’ll consider coaching them as well!

Can I Integrate the Conrad Challenge into my Curriculum?

If you do coach students in your classroom, we invite you to integrate elements of the Conrad Challenge as a project-based learning experience into your curriculum. It is not uncommon for class projects to evolve into Conrad projects! Still, when it comes to discovery and solution development, we do recommend you take a non-directive approach: we find that letting students steer the ship leads to the best innovations!

Can I coach multiple teams?

Yes, a Conrad coach may coach multiple teams.

Do I need to be a subject matter expert to coach?

No - Conrad coaches need not be subject matter experts in the domain of innovation their team is pursuing. Coaches support their teams in many other ways, such as assisting with project planning and asking non-directive questions.