News & Events : News : Students Challenged to Address Issues in NH
October 30, 2008
There are many challenges facing our state today. SESL-NH is challenging teams of college students throughout the state to offer a solution to one of the most pressing challenges facing New Hampshire this year.
NH residents--younger or older; new to this state or born and raised here--are being asked to share what they believe is the most pressing problem facing our state. Your idea can be local, regional, or statewide. It can be in any arena--for example, environmental, social, educational, health, or economic--or related to any sector, such as tourism, transportation, workforce development, or manufacturing--you define the issue. Be as creative and general or specific as you like!
Online submissions will be collected at www.seslchallenge.org through November 4 , 2008. On November 5, 2009, the inaugural SESL 2009 College Challenge Selection Committee, comprised of business and community leaders from various sectors, will review the online submissions and select the inaugural SESL 2009 College Challenge.
Then stay tuned: On February 10, 2009, college teams from throughout NH will participate in a virtual Challenge Kickoff and then embark on a ten-week challenge to come up with a winning idea for addressing this challenge. The dates for the regional (in April) and statewide (in May) SESL College Finals can be found on our website, in case you want to be present when college teams from around the state present their big ideas to statewide judging panels! SESL State Finalists will win scholarship or startup funding: 1st Place, $1,000; 2nd Place, $600; 3rd Place, $300.
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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
Students Challenged to “Think, Create, and Innovate” to Address Issues of Concern in NH
Social Entrepreneurship Student Leadership program expands to college level, kicks off contest
CONCORD – New Hampshire residents – what’s your major concern? The state’s high school and college students want to hear about it and begin to solve problems that affect all citizens.
Over the next three weeks, New Hampshire residents will be asked about the major issues they see the Granite State facing as part of an expanded effort to challenge students to develop innovative ways to address these concerns. The Social Entrepreneurship Student Leadership (SESL) program is adding a college track to its successful high school challenge and has tapped a committee of leaders to select a challenge for teams of college students to delve into in an entrepreneurial fashion.
“These are challenging times, and some of the best ideas are developed and implemented during such times,” said SESL Executive Director Elizabeth Foy. “This expanded effort is designed to tap the creativity of our college population to address a real-world problem in our back yard. We are very excited to kick this off and look forward to engaging students in an entrepreneurial way so they can play a viable role in making a change in our state.”
“Fostering entrepreneurship in our young people is another way the state is continuing to create jobs and grow its economy for the future,” Gov. John Lynch added.
Starting today, anyone can log on to www.seslchallenge.org and fill out a short online form to submit a challenge concept. It should be an issue that is currently facing the state, should be one that has a wide impact, should be non-partisan, and should be one New Hampshire will still expect to face when student groups present their findings in the spring of 2009.
Through the inaugural collegiate level SESL Challenge, teams from two- and four-year colleges throughout New Hampshire will be invited to present entrepreneurial solutions to a specific social challenge facing our state. In partnership with several prominent businesses and organizations, SESL and a panel of business and community leaders will come together to select from these online submissions the SESL College Track Challenge for 2009.
Committee members include Tom O’Reilly, President of Logo Loc in Manchester, Common Man Vice President Diane Downing, Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire President Jim Roche, SESL Executive Director Elizabeth Foy, University System of New Hampshire Associate Vice Chancellor for External Relations Matt Cookson, CCA Global Chairman Howard Brodsky, Ocean Bank Marketing Coordinator Stephanie Capano, New Hampshire Business Review Editor Jeff Feingold, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation President Lew Feldstein, Knowledge Institute Chief Knowledge Officer Deb Osgood, New Hampshire High Technology Chairman Matt Pierson, New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility Executive Director Molly Hodgson-Smith, New Hampshire College and University Council President Tom Horgan, Grappone Automotive Group's Business Development Center Manager Greg Grappone, Brown and Company's President Mary Jo Brown, and Northeast Delta Dental's Manager of Provider Services Jennifer Mullaney.
Beginning in February college teams will have an opportunity to propose creative and realistic solutions to the designated SESL Collegiate 2009 Challenge and present their ideas to panels of statewide judges at SESL’s regional finals in April and the statewide finals in May. State finalists will receive scholarship or startup funding and be exposed to entrepreneurs across the state during a celebration of entrepreneurship at the finals.
The SESL Challenge is an initiative of the Center for Real World Education, an umbrella organization for programs that connect in-classroom learning with real-world experiences and lessons. Through the program, high school and college teams (in separate contests) research, design, and create solutions to community issues that are personally meaningful to them. Putting their ideas into a modified business plan format, student teams then present their ideas. In the process, both traditional and non-traditional learners are challenged to identify their strengths and work within a team of members who might work differently, foster brainstorming techniques, learn how to deal with conflict effectively, refine presentation and public speaking skills, practice time management, and most importantly, convert what they are learning in the classroom into real world applications that enrich their communities.
Since 2006, over 300 high school students from across the state of New Hampshire have participated and competed in NH’s annual SESL Challenge, bringing personally meaningful projects to the fore in an effort to apply what they learn in the classroom to a real world experience, an experience which anecdotally allows students to overcome learning roadblocks (particularly for non-traditional learners), provides them with an opportunity to feel valued and validated, and solidifies in them the importance of thinking outside the box, dreaming big, and being the change they want to see in the world.
The SESL Challenge is sponsored by Manchester-based CCA Global Partners, Leadership Teacher, and the Center for Real World Education. Partnering organizations include the New Hampshire College and University Council, the University System of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development, the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center and the Small Business Administration.
For more information, contact:
Elizabeth Foy
603-715-5155
www.seslchallenge.org