After winning the University of Evansville High School ChangeMaker Challenge, the real work began for Evansville Day School Junior, Norah Ahmed, 17.
Her project is a non-profit organization STEMpire: Empowering Young Women in STEM. This includes a focus on underserved areas.
STEMpire was one of 20 projects selected to compete in the late-January ChangeMaker Challenge through the University of Evansville (UE). The event drew high school teams from around the region with philanthropic business and non-profit ideas that can improve the community.
A full tuition scholarship is Ahmed’s if she chooses to attend UE.
Whether she takes the tuition, she has been busy prepping for her inaugural STEMpire conference, where she hopes to invite 200 local teens to learn about STEM careers. The sign up is on Facebook.
“I'm responsible to actually carry out my goal and to make sure that it happens, and to make sure that it's carried out in a way that not just benefits the goals I set out for me as a person, but the goals that the community needs me to fulfill,” she said.
She raised $12,000 for the conference, and secured all the guest speakers. Now she’s seeking buy-in from local schools and community centers.
After the conference she wants to create the STEMpire Task Force to act as a service corps for over 50 local teenage girls to get experience in STEM fields, and grow the STEM network.
“Not just to help professionals in Evansville grow, but to help these young women stay in Evansville once they have grown as people,” she said. “That's mainly where we're going after the conference, and that's mainly how we're going to make a difference post conference.
She’s also partnering with the Children's Museum of Evansville for STEAM Saturdays.
Ahmed chose her topic after she learned about the purpose of the Evansville Promise Neighborhood for underserved residents.
“I thought that's something I would like to make a difference in,” she said. Adding that it was a hard problem to ignore. “But as for why it's talking about ‘women in STEM,’ I chose that because I want to go into STEM as a woman, and I noticed there's a bit of a difficulty with finding a community for that.”
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More on the other winners
Ahmed won first place, which was full tuition at UE should she choose to attend. She’s also receiving support for her project through the ChangeLab.
The panel of judges also chose a second and third place winning team. More on this via UE news release:
Second Place — Boomerang Learning
Team members: Kris Lau, Abdul-Aleem Mohammed, Parth Patel; Signature School, Evansville, Indiana
Boomerang Learning is a learning program that will help students who have had trouble catching up to Indiana standards post-COVID and to help students who are falling behind their peers.
Third Place — Sprouts: Rooted in Education
Team members: Olivia Cooper; North High School, Evansville, Indiana
Sponsored gardens would be constructed at EVSC elementary schools (with summer school options). The gardens will serve to provide fresh food to nearby food pantries and mitigate local climate change.
On the runners-up
From UE:
On Friday, January 24, a panel of judges heard pitches from the top 20 teams and individual students who had been invited to the in-person competition. From those top 20, six ideas were then chosen for the championship round that took place on Saturday, January 25. During that event, judges awarded first, second, and third place. Additionally, a surprise $10,000 UE scholarship was given to each of the runners up.
Runners up:
Clear Vision
Team members: Evan Walker, Charles March-Gibson; Zionsville Community High School, Zionsville, Indiana
Clear Vision will help neighborhoods achieve safer and more accessible communities by providing durable, reflective address plaques applied directly to the curb for clear and uniform home visibility.
Freedom Boots
Team members: Keegan Griepenstroh, Elias Hager, Isaac Hager; North High School, Evansville, Indiana
Freedom Boots are advanced motorized leg braces powered by electrical stimulation, designed to deliver an immersive experience when paired with a VR headset-all at an affordable price.
PoliTech
Team members: Jonathan Baker, Tyoshi Chikayama-Jackson; Signature School, Evansville, Indiana
PoliTech is an innovative platform that bridges the gap between politicians and their voters through AI technology and social media integration, while ensuring credibility through verified politician accounts and transparent engagement metrics. The platform offers features like PoliAI providing faster information for voters, PoliFeed for sharing verified updates and engaging with followers, and a comprehensive dashboard for politicians to manage their online presence and track authentic engagement metrics.
To learn more about High School Changemaker Challenge please click here