ROSEBURG, Ore., Nov. 3, 2023 – The Umpqua Community College computer programming club secured an impressive third place for their virtual reality educational platform called, “LearnSesh” at the seventh annual Invent Oregon Collegiate Challenge. The year-long competition, ended with awards and winners unveiled at a live-streamed event at Portland’s Redd East Event Space on June 22, 2023.

UCC student team members included: Isaiah Weiss, the team lead, and Jeremy Lin.

In addition to winning third-place in the state, the team won the Best Community College award for the second time in a row, as they also received the award last year in their first time participating in the competition. All in all, UCC was awarded $9,000 in prize money.

LearnSesh is a virtual reality education platform engineered to demystify complex science concepts through interactive experiences for middle school students. 

“With a steadfast mission to support students of all learning styles and needs, LearnSesh is harnessing the potential of virtual reality to revolutionize middle school science education,” said Isaiah Weiss. “It transcends the boundaries of traditional classrooms, providing an extraordinary learning environment.”

UCC competed against teams from community colleges and four-year universities across the state of Oregon, such as Oregon State University, University of Oregon, University of Portland, George Fox University, Portland State University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Southern Oregon University, Willamette University, and others.

Invent Oregon’s invaluable sponsors include the Lemelson Foundation, Business Oregon, Oregon Community Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Roundhouse Foundation, Oregon Venture Fund, Horan Media Tech, Wells Fargo and Stoel Rives.