Christopher Columbus Awards for Positive Community Change

Posted by on September 12, 2003

[posted from RFP Bulletin]

Christopher Columbus Awards Invite Students to Explore Opportunities for Positive Community Change
Deadline: February 2, 2004

The Christopher Columbus Awards, which are designed to challenge middle school students to explore opportunities for positive change in their communities, have announced a call for entries for the 2003-2004 school year. The program is sponsored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, with support from the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/).

Program teams consist of up to four students and a coach, who together identify a community issue and use the scientific process to solve it. Finalist teams win an all-expense-paid trip to Walt Disney World, where they compete for U.S. Savings Bonds and the $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community Grant to help bring their idea to life in their community.

Now in its eighth year, the program attracts many students who typically might not enter a science competition. More than half the entrants are girls, and more than a fourth are from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Past winners have included a group of Native American girls who built a study hall out of straw on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, and a group of students from New Jersey who developed a technology to help deaf athletes communicate with their coaches while on the playing field. A complete list of past winners is available at the awards Web site.

Coaches may be teachers, parents, community leaders, or mentors. Teams do not need to be affiliated with a school to enter.

Visit the program’s Web site for complete application guidelines.

RFP Link: http://www.christophercolumbusawards.com/

For additional RFPs in Children and Youth, visit:
http://www.fdncenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_child.jhtml