Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/513510
photography by Jonathan Iocco The Kids Are All Right The Aspen InsTITuTe and Bezos FAmIly FoundATIon challenge students to lift up their communities. by dorothy atkins The Aspen Institute, long known for engaging political heavyweights, industry titans, and major thought leaders on the most critical issues facing our world, has turned its focus to kids. Launched in 2013, the annual Aspen Challenge—brain- child of the Bezos Family Foundation and supported by the likes of Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright—is an innovative educational program whereby students from underserved and often impoverished public schools are given the tools and support to identify, prioritize, and find solutions to the largest problems aff licting their communities. Each year, the Aspen Challenge moves into a new school district—what they dub "the premier city"—with the goal of empowering a new batch of roughly 150 high school students from some 20 schools. (The first premier city was Los Angeles, followed last year by Denver. This year the Challenge will be in Washington, DC, the home of The Aspen Institute's headquarters—next year: Chicago.) The ultimate goal is to include communities of all types—from urban to rural, from the coasts to the heartland. Specific districts and cities are chosen based on top-level buy-ins from superintendents as well as the ability and enthusiasm of those communities to continue the program once the Aspen Challenge staff has moved on. "We hope to bring the Aspen Challenge to a new city every year, but to remain active in the previous cities," Isaacson says. "This year, top teams from all three cities will have the chance to go to the Aspen Ideas Festival." The program starts with an initial forum during which speakers—from Albright to musician John Legend, with everyone from marine biologists to astronauts to presiden- tial cabinet members in between—offer inspirational speeches and identify specific challenges to guide the eight-person teams. Aspen Challenge staff and participat- ing teachers and administrators then guide the students along the seven-week path, from idea generation to budgeting to execution. The program culminates with a daylong competition where each student group presents its idea to a panel of judges determined by Aspen Challenge staff in collaboration with school administrators. The overall group winner from each city is invited to present its ideas at the appropriately titled Aspen John Legend spoke on the importance of leadership at the inaugural Aspen Challenge in Los Angeles in 2013. below, center: The "Student Wall," a roster of the 160 participating teens, at the Challenge in LA. continued on page 82 80 aspenpeak-magazine.com PEOPLE Spirit of Generosity