At Ohio State University, both the Agricultural Engineering and Agricultural Systems Management programs require a two-semester capstone design course sequence. The courses are centered around “real world” problems from industry stakeholders and focus on developing students’ ability to problem solve within diverse groups and professional development skills. Students complete in depth stakeholder and techno-economic analyses, as well as create and evaluate multiple solutions to a problem plaguing industries. Evaluating the level of sponsorship industry stakeholders are willing to take for capstone projects varies greatly from year to year. We looked at what combination of resources and expert time are industry contacts most willing to provide to students. Over the past two years, there have been an increase in projects that coupled industry sponsorship with educational deliverables. These projects were geared more towards using industry knowledge to create models, tools, activities, or hands-on displays that could be used by extension agents or other educators with diverse audiences in mind. We will further examine the Center Point Pivot Model Project, which used internationally known irrigation technologies sourced from a local supplier and challenged students to scale down a center point pivot to be portable for irrigation demonstrations, as a case study for how industry and academia can partner to better educate the general population. When creating the bridge between industry expectations and educational uses, students found themselves more motivated to complete all deliverables for both the class and end project solution due to the ability to see a true need and clear use of their project going forward. Here we will also explore multilevel benefits and best practices for finding partnerships that facilitate graduating students feeling like they are contributing to a lasting legacy for the department via capstone design.