Ithaca College

Elizabeth J. Bergman, Aging Studies Associate Professor and Chair, congratulates Nicolette Kittell for winning the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) Global Business of Aging Pitch Contest during the 44th Annual Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, March 3.  

Nicolette took the idea she came up with for an assignment in Bergman’s Age Matters class, further developed it and entered to compete in the Global Business of Aging Pitch Contest. Making the finalist round, she was invited to make her pitch virtually, using Google Hangouts, for her product idea, the Pill Top Popper. She pitched, responded to questions from the two judges who are entrepreneurs from the Atlanta area, and made a closing statement. After all the finalists made their pitches, the judges conferred while the audience offered feedback and voted for their favorite. The judges then announced their choice for the winner. Nicolette won both the audience and judges vote! Nicolette is still waiting for exact details of the prize, but it includes an invitation to advance her idea at the Aging2.0 conference in San Francisco in November and a feature on a national blog. Nicolette says her inspiration for the Pill Top Popper came from her grandparents.

Established in 1974, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) is a membership organization of colleges and universities that offer education, training, and research programs in the field of aging. AGHE currently has more than 160 institutional members throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad. The Ithaca College Major in Aging is an AGHE designated Program of Merit.