Summit Showcase Winners - Middle School Delegations for Change
Envision’s 2017 Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit enabled students in middle school through college to come to Washington D.C. to witness the Presidential Inauguration in person. At the Summit, they were also empowered to find their own leadership voice, as they collaborated to find solutions for the significant issues facing their generation.
Shaping a Brighter Future
In the Summit’s multi-day Delegations for Change workshops, students worked in teams to tackle real-world issues they felt passionately about. After selecting their issue and researching its causes and effects, they then collaborated on solutions, which they presented to their peers at the culminating Summit Showcase.
Last week we honored the winners from the High School and College Summit Showcases. Today’s article is dedicated to our talented Middle School winners.
Category: Racing Extinction
Winning team: Winning team: Jolie Brochu, Kiana Ejercito, Brittney Clemons, Paul Fiorenzo, and Francesco Contreras.
The issue: Contamination of the Earth’s oceans, which provide humans with food, medicine, transportation, oxygen-producing plants, and of course, water. Humans are polluting the ocean at an alarming rate. Approximately 80% of ocean pollution comes from land activities, and 36% of that comes from runoff, which dumps oil, fertilizers, pesticides, and toxic fluids into the sea.
The team presented both a simple, inexpensive solution and a more ambitious, high-tech solution. The simple solution that could be implemented immediately in students’ own communities is to plant trees around big cities, to absorb water and therefore decrease runoff. This “green infrastructure” would also produce beneficial oxygen and habitats for animals, while reducing carbon dioxide and beautifying the landscape. The more advanced, longer-run solution was to build reverse-osmosis facilities on shorelines, which could be designed to intercept and cleanse toxic runoff before it reached the ocean.
Category: Imagining Peace
Winning team: Sofia Posadas, Jordyn Youngelson, Sergei Frazier, Noah Wagner, Jeremia Gardiner, and Michael Evrard-Vescio.
The issue: The inability of any one nation (specifically the U.S.) to single-handedly thwart the world’s multitude of security threats.
The team’s solution: An alliance between Russia and the U.S., enabling these two world powers to more effectively police and eliminate terrorism, violence, and economic instability, by working together. In order to honor the priorities and opinions of both countries, the scholars suggested creating a committee with six members from each country, and a moderator from the United Nations. The committee would address the top two global priorities submitted by each side, and then devise solutions to all four issues, with the ultimate goal being world peace.
Category: Curing the Future
Winning team: Daniela Oquendo, Alexis Tamon, Lea Thomas, Adam Olivieri, Grace Roberts, and Ayusha Thapa
The issue: Drug addiction, which kills more people every year than car accidents, and is now classified as an epidemic by the CDC. The team specifically address the issue of prescription drugs, which are abused more often than cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined.
The issue: Drug addiction, which kills more people every year than car accidents, and is now classified as an epidemic by the CDC. The team specifically address the issue of prescription drugs, which are abused more often than cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined.
Category: Creating a Smarter Planet
Winning team Avery Winslow, Kimberly Ramos, Lexx Atwood, Ashley Hamilton, Gregory Green, and Douglas Scealf.
The issue: The inconsistency/inequality of effective education and educational resources for students across the U.S.
The team’s solution: Replacing hard-copy textbooks with technology-based information sources, which could be available to all students via the Internet. The group suggested partnering with large corporations such as Walmart and Nike to outfit schools with the necessary technology. Additionally, they suggested donating old textbooks from the U.S. to third-world countries, thus improving education around the globe.
Category: Pathways to Power
Winning team: Maddy Vonins, Gabby Burgess, Julia Yohe, Elena Mitchell, Logan Russell, Alexis Vivanco, and Ryleigh Resendiz.
The issue: Gender inequality, especially with regard to women’s access to positions of leadership. The team’s primary goal was to equalize men’s and women’s standing in society and eliminate the glass ceiling.
The team’s short-term solutions included creation of girls’ empowerment and leadership clubs in schools, as well as increased awareness through social media and peaceful protest. For long-term solutions, they looked to the governments of countries around the world to abolish oppression of women and eliminate the wage gap through new legislation. The team also suggested a “blind” job interview process so that hiring managers are not swayed by gender.
Category: Drones, Clones and Genomes
Winning team: Victor Moreno, Anastasia Lerma, Andrew Keenan, Alyssa Lawson, Tristan Murray, and Maria Jose Guerrero
The issue: Safety concerns with the use of drones. Aircraft pilots consider drones to be a risk to their planes and passengers. Many citizens feel drones threaten their right to privacy. Of course, in the hands of terrorists, drones also pose serious threat to human life.
The team’s solution: Expand and enforce safety policies related to the ownership and use of drones. The group proposed a 9-point policy list, which they hope to implement with the help of major drone manufacturers and the U.S. government. The list includes prohibiting owners to fly drones over people, near airports, or at speeds exceeding 100 mph.
Student Speak Up
While the Summit had many highlights for the attending scholars, the Delegation for Change workshops stood out to many as particularly valuable. Here are some student comments, in their own words:
“This program has… helped me practice my speaking skills and collaborate with people from different backgrounds from myself, and challenged me to pursue my passions and desire to aid others.” – Olivia
“[The Summit] made me realize that there is more than just your community. There are World Problems that WE can actually help solve. And I now know that for me to make a difference, it's not as hard as I thought it would be.” – Emily
“This group changed me for the better, giving me inspiration to work for good change and peace. I learned a lot about each of the topics for the delegations, and the experience also gave me much more confidence in speaking and making a team.” – Calista
We at Envision are proud to have worked with these exceptional Summit scholars—our next generation of leaders. Carpe Futurum!