Marcus L. Strother, President and CEO of MENTOR California, issued a challenge at Aspen Challenge: San Diego 2024 urging students to find solutions to chronic absenteeism. Read his take on the Aspen Challenge and why giving young people the space and agency to create community change is so important in our ever-changing world.

The Aspen Challenge: Youth Driven Interruptions of Systems represents a powerful call to action. It emphasizes for adults the importance of disrupting the status quo and empowers youth to drive meaningful change in their communities. 

This initiative embodies our belief at MENTOR California that young people have the capacity and the lived experience to address pressing issues and enact positive transformation, adults and institutions can help by providing the space for their leadership. 

By focusing on the principles of love, interruption, and opportunity, the Aspen Challenge provides a dynamic platform for youth to not only identify problems but also to propose and implement solutions. This approach is particularly impactful as it encourages creativity, autonomy, and innovation among young participants; foundational leadership tenets that will serve their communities going forward. 

The Aspen Challenge is a blueprint for fostering a culture where youth voices are valued and their ideas are taken seriously – This is a bold practice that communicates in action we love our youth. As an educator and youth advocate of over twenty years, I know well that loved, empowered youth become extraordinarily powerful adults that bring the compassion and ingenuity needed to solve some of our world’s toughest challenges. 

In my view, at the crux of the Aspen Challenge is its commitment to being unconventional in its approach to interrupting worn out norms. This creates a framework that fosters belief in the capabilities of youth, and nurtures a culture of collaboration and action – More of our institutions ought to adopt this approach. By allowing young people to lead the way in addressing community concerns, the Aspen Challenge cultivates a sense of ownership and responsibility, ultimately contributing to flourishing communities and the individuals within them.

In essence, the Aspen Challenge represents a paradigm shift in how we approach problem-solving and community development, placing faith in the ingenuity and passion of the younger generation to drive positive change in an ever-evolving world. That’s a good bet in my book.