A home fitness device for climbers, a software that helps search and rescue planning and an app upgrade that allows consumers to more easily return items at Kohl’s were among the student startup ventures pitched at The Commons Demo Day for the spring class of 2018.

More than 200 people, including investors, academics and corporate executives attended the event held at the We Energies Auditorium in downtown Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

The Commons, an entrepreneurial skills accelerator for college students in southeast Wisconsin, is based at the Ward 4 co-working space in the Pritzlaff Building. The spring class is comprised of 75 students from several state colleges and universities, regardless of major and year in school. More than 200 students across the state applied for the 10-week spring session.

The students in the spring cohort worked on finding solutions for some of the largest companies in the Milwaukee region, including Kohl’s Corp., law firm Godfrey & Kahn, Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Manpower Group. Read the full story here.