RUSTON, La. — Tech in Schools, a student-led venture that helps middle and high school students build and program robots, won Louisiana Tech University’s 2026 Top Dog New Venture Championship. Its founders plan to launch a pilot at a local middle school.
Albaraa Farrag, a mechanical engineering major, and Samrageey Lohani, a computer information systems major, developed the program to give schools the equipment, curriculum, instruction and mentorship needed for hands-on engineering projects. The team also plans to expand its curriculum and enter other regional entrepreneurship competitions.
“Tech in Schools provides students with the opportunity to learn the fundamentals, and they also learn to fail, fix, and try again,” Farrag and Lohani said in a university release.
The competition began with 23 teams. Thirteen advanced to the preliminary round, and six pitched to a panel of judges. The university awarded $10,000 in total prize money, with support from BRF’s Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program, Jones Walker LLP, Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC and Louisiana Tech’s College of Business.
RecLink, a mobile app that connects recreational athletes with nearby players and pickup games, placed second after winning Louisiana Tech’s spring 2026 Top Pup pitch competition for first-year students.
Kivaro and TagSentry tied for third. Kivaro develops customized AI tools to help investment firms automate tasks such as financial research, due diligence and investor reporting. TagSentry pairs a portable device with an alarm-equipped tag to alert users when belongings move out of range.
The other finalists were InkFlow, a platform that helps writers organize projects and share work, and TechCheck, a fingerprint-based attendance system that gives instructors and student retention staff real-time reports.
The College of Business’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation hosted the competition. India Carroll, an executive in residence at the college, mentored teams, and many participants developed or refined their ideas in center director Jessica George’s business pitch course.