Philadelphia Students Rise to the Challenge

Philadelphia, PA, Feb. 12, 2018 -- The Aspen Challenge — a program of the Aspen Institute founded in partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation — is teaming up with the School District of Philadelphia again for the Aspen Challenge: Philadelphia, with students and educators from 20 high schools throughout the city. The Aspen Challenge kicks off February 14 with a daylong youth leadership development forum, where teams of students and teachers will hear from leaders pioneering change to current pressing issues. These leaders will present challenges to the students around topics including poverty reduction, improving community-wide health, eliminating cyberhate, and engaging more young people around the environment and the arts. The teams then have eight weeks to work on innovative solutions to the challenges, and on April 11 they will reconvene to present their solutions to a panel of judges. One winning team will be chosen to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival in June in Aspen, CO, to present their work.

WHO: Challenge participants include 20 high school teams of eight students ranging from grades nine through twelve and two teachers (the coaches for the program), totaling 200 participants from the School District of Philadelphia. Please visit www.aspenchallenge.org and our partner city page for Philadelphia see a list of the 2018 participating Philadelphia high schools.

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

• Jim Kenney, mayor of Philadelphia
• Josh Bernstein, explorer, educator, television host, and founder and CEO of the multi-platform initiative Explorer at Large
• Ezekiel Emanuel, oncologist, bioethicist, and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at University of Pennsylvania 
• Jane Golden, executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia
• Randi Boyette, senior associate regional director of the Anti-Defamation League
• Jamila Harris-Morrison, executive director of ACHIEVEability, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty for single-parent families
• Angela Duckworth, founder and scientific director of the nonprofit Character Lab

And more! For the complete list of presenters visit aspenchallenge.org

WHEN: February 14, 2018 | 9am – 5pm & April 11, 2018 | 9am – 5pm

WHERE: Drexel University, Behrakis Grand Hall, 3210 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104

RSVP: If you are a member of the media who wishes to attend please RSVP to Zach St. Louis at [email protected] by Tuesday, February 13.

The Aspen Challenge provides inspiration and a platform for young people to design solutions to some of the most critical and complex issues humanity faces. For more information, please visit aspenchallenge.org or www.facebook.com/TheAspenChallenge.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
 

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Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b2aa485a-107b-4b40-b7db-b26f47712718

Zach St. Louis
The Aspen Institute
(202) 736-3526
[email protected]