High School Changemaker Challenge is set for Thursday, March 17, at 9:00 a.m., in Eykamp Hall, Ridgway University Center, on the University of Evansville campus. This is the first year for the event, which is hosted by the Institute for Global Enterprise at UE. Admission is free and open to the public.
The objective of High School Changemaker Challenge is to motivate young people to take the lead in finding innovative and creative solutions to challenges facing today’s world. During the contest, one team of up to three students from each competing high school will vie to solve local, national or global challenges. Participating teams are from:
- Boonville High School
- Bosse High School
- Castle High School
- Central High School
- Early College at Ivy Tech
- Mater Dei
- Memorial High School
- New Tech Institute
- North High School
- Reitz High School
- Shepard Law Academy
- Tecumseh High School
The teams’ presentations will be judged by Vanderburgh and Warrick County community leaders. The winning team will be chosen based on such criteria as: identification of a need, how innovative the solution is, the feasibility and potential impact of the solution, how self-sustaining the solution is, and the effectiveness of the presentation.
Any winning team member who chooses UE as a college destination will receive a full-tuition scholarship annually for four years, as long as they remain consecutively enrolled each semester as a full-time student, maintain satisfactory academic progress toward their degree, and fulfill the two-year residency requirement in campus housing. UE admission requirements also apply.
Additional scholarships will also be given to second and third place teams. UE admission requirements apply to these scholarships as well. The first runner-up team members each receive an additional $5,000 on top of their UE merit aid offer; second runner-up team members each get an additional $2,500 on top of their UE merit aid offer; and third runner-up team members will each get an additional $1,000 on top of their UE merit aid offer.
In preparation for High School Changemaker Challenge, team members attended coaching sessions on social innovation, what it means to be self-sustaining, and how to make a presentation to the judges. These sessions were led by UE students, who drew on their own experiences as participants in a Changemaker Challenge for students at the University.
For more information on UE’s High School Changemaker Challenge, visit www.evansville.edu/cc-hs, email globalindiana@evansville.edu, or call 812-488-2455.
