aggies plastic-reducing idea is taking him to super bowl 53 thanks to pepsicohayden smiths innovative idea to reduce plastic waste was chosen in a nationwide competition jan 31 2019photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciencesthe idea just came to me while walking my dog thats how texas a&m university student hayden smith 19 thought of the innovative idea thats now taking him all the way to the super bowl as a winner of pepsicos 2019 game-changers competition a double-major in economics in the college of liberal arts and environmental geoscience in the college of geosciences smith used his knowledge of business and the environment to develop a plastic-reduction concept to pitch to pepsico now named one of five winners of the competition smith is excited not only to enjoy an all-expenses-paid 4-day trip to super bowl weekend in atlanta but also to see his award-winning idea possibly become a reality it intermixes a lot of what ive learned in environmental geosciences sustainability and the reductions of plastic and the economics of cost savings by reducing inputs he said those concepts are centered around digital technology which acts as a connecting point with you and the brand because in-effect of buying this brand you are now participating in a global sustainability initiative its a big system how it comes together smith is a serial ideator because you never know the power of ideas he said the plastic-reduction idea came to him about six months ago one day when he was walking his dog about a month later he heard about the pepsico competition made the video pitch for his idea and entered it i didnt tell a soul about it until i heard back in december he said now smith is headed to atlanta for super bowl 53 and his sustainability-minded idea could potentially be implemented by pepsico (he could not disclose the specifics of the idea; pepsico owns the intellectual property of every submission to the competition) he and the other four pepsico game-changers competition winners will participate in promotional filming watch the half-time show rehearsal be in a nasdaq stock exchange bell closing take a market tour attend the super bowl take photos with the vince lombardi trophy meet nfl players and more thinking like an entrepreneur since age eight smith has a passion for both sustainable policy development and sustainability-focused businesses and his entrepreneurial instincts have driven him for a long time i remember the day i made my first dollar when i was about 8 years old it kind of just lit me on fire he said since then ive always had little side jobs and am always coming up with new ideas from 2017 to 2018 smith and two friends a texas a&m geosciences graduate student and a university of houston graduate student formed a startup company to develop a holistic student services software application their team completed ycombinators startup school a program of one of the major startup accelerators in silicon valley and they also participated in texas a&m mays business schools mcferrin center for entrepreneurship startup aggieland business incubator programphoto by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciencesthe most influential thing for entrepreneurship for me has been to get around people who have a similar mindset and to keep a close-knit group with those people he said i highly recommend the incubator program here and the many events of startup aggieland; those are amazing places to meet like-minded people building a startup was an invaluable experience for him starting an official texas llc and working with other people who were hungry to develop a useful software for others really opened my eyes in a lot of ways and now i would like to own my own business one day he said i think entrepreneurship is a huge part of solving so many of the problems society faces aggie professors helped instill a passion for sustainable solutions smiths affection for aggieland has also been with him for most of his life he said i grew up in allen texas and id been coming to college station since i was in diapers smith said both of my grandfathers are professors emeritus in the texas a&m system dr norman guinasso research professor emeritus of oceanography at texas a&m and dr donald e harper jr professor emeritus of marine biology at texas a&m galveston theyve both been the most amazing mentors i was just drawn to texas a&m i was admitted and its been a dream ever since at texas a&m professors in both of his majors have helped him understand the most critical problems facing earth today and how sustainable solutions could be developed my favorite economics class has been with dr adel varghese instructional associate professor of economics who teaches development economics smith said thats been most influential for me because you can really see the change that can occur by shaping policy; and likewise you can see the negative impacts of not thinking through policy holistically smith also credits the teaching of dr vatche tchakerian professor of geography for opening my eyes to not just the problems we face but looking at the grand solutions of actually moving in a better direction for our planet and people and geography professor dr wendy jepsons resources class also gave me a much more well-rounded view of policy he said texas a&m has made a huge impact on his life the deep intrinsic sense of community is what ill miss the most he said it really is a family-type experience after graduating in december 2019 he would like to attend law school and focus on a jd in environmental law and also pursue a joint masters degree in development or resource economics and hopes to eventually work in public service or policy-making i want to make an impact in any way that i can whether its through changing the marketing and production of companies or advocating sustainable policy im all about it by leslie lee '09 media contacts: leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences 979-845-0910 leslielee@tamuedu robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences 979-845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu