Jamie Rocks has some very unique ideas.
"It was either going to be a thermal reactive blanket, a non-spillable coffee cup or my idea for this," said Rocks, a Canadore College student.
In the end, Rocks chose to submit a re-engineered 'shop broom' as his concept for the William G. Davis Innovation Fund contest. It aims to encourage out-of-the-box thinking and entrepreneurship.
"Basically, he did it all himself, so while he was taking the course I presented him with the opportunity to apply for this competition and he took the ball and ran with it," said Rob Korn, Canadore College professor.
"He was fantastic."
Rocks' shop broom resembles a squeegee and promises to clean without getting anything stuck in traditionally hard-to-clean bristles.
"From the skills I've learned, everything has helped me," he said.
"I learned a little bit of welding which with the broom that I built has a little bit of welding components on it. I learned machining and mostly I learned what the problem was with all the current cleaning supplies."
Rocks isn’t the only finalist from Canadore College. Another student, Branden Robert Liedtke, created a universal multiple deck trailer.
“It's really, really exciting that two of our students from the north, from a northern College, competing against the large southern colleges, both made it into the final ten finalists for this fabulous prize," said Caroline Corbett, associate dean.
Rocks is looking to patent his shop broom and to partner with a company that could help manufacture it.
He hopes to one day see his broom in homes and stores.
As for the contest, online voting continues until November 5.
