Dallas Independent School District and School District of Philadelphia Students Present Solutions to Immigration Crisis, School-to-Prison Pipeline, and Equitable Development at Aspen Ideas Festival

July 30, 2018, Aspen, CO — It’s been almost six months since high school students from Dallas and Philadelphia heard challenges and began working to positively impact their communities. In that time, the more than 300 students who accepted the Aspen Challenge have demonstrated the tenacity, leadership, and optimism necessary to be champions of change in and around their school and home communities and beyond. For 24 Dallas Independent School District and seven School District of Philadelphia students, that hard work earned them trips to the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival.

Students from Emmett J. Conrad’s team I.M.P.A.C.T. (Initiating Meaningful Progress Among Cultures Today), Moisés E. Molina’s team M4A (Mobility 4 All), Sunset High School’s team Dreamers Not Criminals in Dallas and John Bartram High School’s team Give Us Our Crowns in Philadelphia and their teacher-coaches experienced a full Aspen, CO adventure complete with a hike of Aspen Mountain, rafting the Arkansas River, and  a traditional Aspen Seminar before presenting their Aspen Challenge-winning solutions to global leaders, policy makers, and entrepreneurs from the Ideas Festival stage.

Check out each team’s presentation and watch every moment from the Aspen Challenge presentations at the Aspen Ideas Festival on the 2018 Aspen Challenge at the Aspen Ideas Festival playlist on the Aspen Institute’s YouTube channel.

Dallas Independent School District’s Emmett J. Conrad High School’s Aspen Challenge team presents their solution to TheDream.US program director Gaby Pacheco’s challenge to design a program that fosters empathy and creates support for all immigrants, regardless of their documentation status.

Dallas Independent School District’s Moisés E. Molina High School’s Aspen Challenge team presents their solution to 100 Resilient Cities’ Smita Rawoot and Eric Wilson’s challenge to design mobility solutions that increase community cohesion and promote equitable development of vulnerable populations.

Dallas Independent School District’s Sunset High School’s Aspen Challenge team presents their solution to TheDream.US program director Gaby Pacheco’s challenge to design a program that fosters empathy and creates support for all immigrants, regardless of their documentation status.
The School District of Philadelphia’s John Bartram High School’s Aspen Challenge team presents their solution to Mural Arts Philadelphia executive director Jane Golden’s challenge to use art to raise awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline and promote restorative justice and education over incarceration.

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