There is no shortage of social innovation inspiring students across the country, but an edtech company is asking the nation’s youth to get in on the movement and come up with their own solutions while they’re still in school.
ThinkCERCA, an online educational resource startup, has paired up with the United Nations’s (U.N.) Nothing But Nets campaign to challenge students in grades three through 12 to think critically about a problem either in their community or elsewhere in the world and submit a pitch for a solution to the issue through social enterprise.
Nothing But Nets, a global campaign dedicated to preventing the deadly disease malaria, will be featuredon ThinkCERCA’s site alongside a variety of social entrepreneurs in sharing stories of success.  Stories and profiles range from solar energy and Internet access in remote villages to prison education and women’s rights.
Using these articles, students will gain insight that will help build skills in recognizing and solving social problems in their communities.
“These inspiring real-world stories of social entrepreneurship reflect our focus on collaboration, literacy, technology, society and culture,” says Eileen Murphy Buckley, ThinkCERCA CEO. “The lessons also utilize our CERCA framework, which will help students analyze the content, get inspired and apply what they’ve learned. It goes beyond education; it’s also about taking action.”
The site also includes an outline to cultivating a pitch as well as rubrics for each grade. The contest, which kicked off Oct. 24, runs through Dec. 5 and invites students to apply as individuals or as a group. Winners receive feedback from expert social entrepreneurs as well as a profile for a concept for a new QuickCERCA lesson on the company’s site.
MORE: 7 Key Drivers to Turn Social Innovation into Success