“It’s pretty cool that ASU offers this to the younger generation,” Caden, a high-schooler presenting energy-producing pressure plates, said. “They offer a lot of scholarships given through this. There’s also a lot of team building with this, we all worked on this together. It’s great.”
Beyond team building and the hopes of winning, the students were also provided unique opportunities to learn what it means to be a Changemaker.
“Collaboration is a big one,” Riya, a high schooler presenting invasive species management control and a member of the 2nd place team, said. “Being able and willing to communicate your ideas in a way that is accessible to everyone, so that different levels of understanding, from an expert to someone off the street, are able to be involved.”
While someone can change the world many different ways, collaboration and accessibility allow this change to extend beyond a single moment or application. By focusing on how this change will impact others and centering this event in collaborative presentations, students are encouraged to think of how their ideas can be utilized by communities everywhere.
“Sustained Beauty will help people learn how to buy smart,” Zoe, a high schooler presenting sustainable beauty palettes, said. “To be able to see a product and be like ‘hey there is a mirror in there, you wouldn’t be able to recycle that.’ It would help bring that awareness, and consciousness to people, as well as taking a part in it.”
Young changemakers at these events look to create big shifts in the industries and trades that affect their day-to-day lives. However, sometimes just causing a shift in your local community, even your own family, can be the ripple effect that leads to this big change.
“This is such a wonderful event,” Carla Flores, a Spanish teacher and the mother of Zoe, said. “It is my first time here, and I love to see the students, instead of becoming consumers, becoming creators. So seeing that innovation at its finest is wonderful, it's sparked so much creativity and ideas for me to go back into my classroom and apply them.”
Changing the world is not an easy process, nor one that can be done through one initiative or action. Change the World has a better goal, one of creating cyclical change in local communities by inspiring the younger generation to think of how their ideas can change the world.
“I think there are great ways for students and people in general to change the world, by getting out in their communities, serving their communities, seeing what’s out there and where the need is.”