GEC Expectations

Scarsdale High School supports the Sustainable Development Goals

The Challenge

Participants will review the UN Sustainable Development Goals and be challenged to find opportunities in their local communities to make an impact around these areas by observing, interviewing, or immersing themselves in experiences that present a need. Participants will then ideate, test, and iterate their solutions to create value for their communities and share their projects with the network of schools participating in this challenge.

What are the rules and expectations?

Projects can be done independently or as a part of a team, with the ideal size of 4-6 students.

Teams must be able to attend all Zoom meetings and present at least one team solution at the Global Summit (virtual or in-person).

This challenge's success relies on teams meeting the deadlines and preparing for each Zoom call with the expected deliverables. All teams will be expected to complete the work a week before each Zoom meeting (see below for expected due dates for each activity).
- We will provide all required resources for the challenge after commitment and particular meetings.
- We will ask teams to submit their work a week before each meeting to help us create meaningful sessions.

For teams interested in attending the presentations in person:

Due to size and logistical constraints, we can only offer three schools the opportunity to attend the in-person event, with each team bringing a maximum of 4-6 students per school (with a mandatory 1-2 teacher chaperones).
The planned dates of arrival/ departure would be Wednesday, March 20th, to Sunday, March 24th.
Hotel accommodations and tentative plans for the visit will be available soon.
Depending on demand, in-person accommodations may be on a first-come, first-served basis (with a waitlist)

Challenge Due Dates

Project Start!

November 3, 2023

Required:

A commitment to participate in the challenge and interest in either presenting in-person or virtually at the summit (non-commital).

SDG Exploration

November 22, 2023

(One week before our first Zoom Call)

Required

Teams give a list of participating individuals
Teams fill out “get to know you” surveys*
Teams review the SDGs and have identified one or more goals they potentially want to work with

Venture Workshop

January 17, 2024

(One week before our second Zoom Call)

Required

Teams have decided on the SDG they want to work on

Teams have begun work to understand their problems locally through research, interviews, and other methods

Optional

Teams can begin brainstorming potential solutions at this point

Quick Pitch

February 15, 2024

(One week before

third Zoom Call)

Required

Teams have identified a problem and a potential solution
Teams have completed the Quick Pitch deck*

Optional

Teams have done “early stage testing” of their idea and have initial feedback from their intended audience

Global Summit!

March 21, 2024

(One week prior to Global Summit)

Required
- Teams have a polished “Project Pitch”* complete that lasts 5 minutes (max).
Optional
- Teams have tested their solution with their intended audience one or more times

Common Q & A

Below are common questions we get from teachers.

Please feel free to contact Brian McDonald (bmcdonald@scarsdaleschools.org) with any questions or concerns about the challenge, its expectations, or anything in general!

General Concerns

Concern: I don't know how to solve an SDG!

Don't worry! We will help you now and along the journey!

Scarsdale offers a college-level Social Entrepreneurship course based on world-leading design thinking practices and lean start-up methodologies. Through continuous improvement year to year, we have consolidated our best resources to help you navigate from discovery to identifying a problem to ideating solutions to implementing them.

We will give you the resources ahead of time. Some resources are optional and can help with tricky parts of the process (they certainly have helped us)! We will also provide an optional Zoom Q&A in between the 2nd and 3rd call to help teachers who have questions!

Concern: I don't know how to start!

This year, we've provided a list of potential starting points that can help jump-start your project. It's optional, and we encourage people to start wherever they want to make an impact!

The list of prompts is here.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

This list is incomplete. The SDGs are broad and wide-sweeping. This list aims to grab a few subgoals and identify potential starting points if you need them.

This list may not represent problems you can solve locally. Find what works for you!

This list is a starting point- feel free to build off of or remix them (or not use them at all!)

Q: What makes a successful Entrepreneurship Project?

There are countless ways to reach success, but here are some key indicators that you are on the right track.

Seeks To Make a Lasting Impact

With over 169 targets and 17 broad and interconnected goals, the UN Sustainability Development Goals give teams a fantastic starting point to begin making projects for good.
While the challenge takes place over several months, successful projects aim to make an impact that extends beyond the final pitch day.
This means you want to avoid solutions that are “single-time events” or community service projects (though you can have projects that involve volunteers).

Starts Local

We all would like to solve the world's problems, but the quickest way to make an impact is to start where you are with the issues that impact your local communities.
Successful projects aim to identify the most pressing issues impacting your community and seek to understand the people it impacts.

Implement and Measure The Impact

What separates entrepreneurs from others is their ability to implement their ideas and measure their impact.
Teams aim to Increase community awareness of the needs and capabilities of those affected by the focused inequalities.
Once teams go through the process of identifying problems and ideating solutions, we ask them to put their product or service to the test, deliver it to their intended audience, and assess the impact of their idea