Let’s talk about the original 5-10 members. What did everyone think when the competition was announced? Did you ever imagine you’d be doing something like this in college?

When the competition was announced, the original members were all extremely excited and motivated. This was a task that excited the entrepreneur part of the team, as well as our engineering and artistic passions. We were immediately hooked. A few texts and emails were exchanged, and within five days our team consisted of somewhere between five and 10 students, and only continued to grow from there once we set an organizational structure to start heavy recruitment across campus.

If you would have told us freshman year that we’d be helping design and build a Hyperloop pod, we would have laughed you out of the room. We never could have imagined the depth to which we would have been involved in an organization developing such a bleeding-edge and innovative technology as the Hyperloop system.

What is BadgerLoop as a student organization? What is it as a small "start-up" company?

Originally, it started as a student organization with the goal of gaining relevant engineering experience in a unique field. BadgerLoop has now grown to encompass much more. We believe that part of our success has come from functioning similarly to a fast paced "start-up" in addition to an engineering competition student organization.

As a student organization, we focus on providing a learning experience for any passionate individual—regardless of background—who is excited to be involved with an organization that is pushing the boundaries of transportation innovation. We represent the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in competition, on campus, and through outreach events. Education and inspiration are core values of BadgerLoop, geared towards the entire population: from young children all the way to seasoned professionals.

Beyond the technical challenges of the Hyperloop, we feel that these values are what SpaceX hoped to instill through the medium of the competition. Due to the accelerated timeline and technical robustness required by the implementation of cutting edge technology as part of this competition, BadgerLoop has taken on the feel of a fast-paced startup.

Over the last eight months, the team has accumulated 150+ students, faculty advisors, and industry advisors; has designed a 15' levitating vehicle accompanied by a 272 slide technical design package; has fundraised more than $45,000; and has manufactured multiple interactive prototypes demonstrating various systems of the pod. Accomplishing these tasks has required many sleepless nights, too much coffee, and more design iterations than there have been weeks of school. Being a part of this competition and the BadgerLoop organization has been the best experience imaginable for young, motivated, big-dreaming students.

Does your student life pale in comparison to this competition, and how has it affected your college life?

It really depends on who you talk to on the team. Some see BadgerLoop invaluable to gaining experience alongside engineering courses, developing analytical, engineering, and problem solving skills. But at the same time, it’s difficult to focus 100 percent on school with BadgerLoop’s success. BadgerLoop, by its very nature, gives us a real world experience in the field of engineering and also in the field of business. It by far is the most value-added activity that we are participating in currently. Others see BadgerLoop as the beginning of the future where you can gain tangible skills and experience from this project that far supersede the benefit of learning classroom techniques.

Now that BadgerLoop has succeeded thus far, it has become the most important thing for a lot of the team. It adds so much experience working in a cross-functional organization that school simply cannot offer. BadgerLoop, in a sense, is a new form of education.