Teens and teachers working together to build a better world

What if you could build a better world? The Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education at the University of San Diego is calling for middle- and high-school educators to join us in our effort to make a local and global impact. In the 2025 Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge, educators and teenagers will develop an innovator’s mindset and the skills to create solutions to local and global problems.

Build Solutions Aligned to the Global Goals

Using Pactful, students are introduced to the innovator’s mindset, the 17 United Nations Global Goals, and design thinking. Students form teams to identify a local or global problem that feels relevant to them and then work through three phases of a design thinking curriculum to develop solutions.

What is the Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge?

The Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge is an annual, worldwide event that supports teachers and teenagers in developing social good solutions using design thinking. There is no cost to participate and ongoing support is provided to educators through a series of webinars. The challenge culminates in May with a virtual pitch competition. Awards to charity are provided on behalf of winning teams (see winners from our last event).

The challenge is generously supported by the generosity of Dr. Irwin and Mrs. Joan Jacobs.

Timeline

January 13, 2025: Application deadline
January 22, 2025: Kickoff & Understand Phase Webinar
February 19, 2025:Ideate Phase Webinar
March 19, 2025: Prototype Phase Webinar
April 11, 2025: Pitch Phase Webinar
April 30, 2025 Deadline for educators to submit recorded pitches
May 24, 2025: Winners announced at live online award ceremony!

Information Sessions

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming virtual informational sessions on December 10, 2024. We will be hosting two sessions: one in English and one in Spanish. These sessions are designed to provide you with all the details you need about the 2025 Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge. During the session, the Pactful team will cover:

Comprehensive explanations of the Challenge
Important timelines and deadlines
Valuable tips and insights to help you succeed

Can’t make it to the live session? No worries! We will provide a recording of the meeting upon request. Don’t miss this opportunity to get all your questions answered and learn how you can inspire your students to innovate and create!

Prizes

Winning teams and their solutions will be celebrated in the Pactful Community and the media. In addition, winning teams will receive certificates celebrating their success, plus:

The winning team of the ‘Best Overall Social Innovation’ will receive an award of $2,000.
The winning team of the ‘Most Local Impact Award’ will receive an award of $500.
The winning team of the ‘Most Global Impact Award’ will receive an award of $500.
The winning team of the ‘Most Creative Innovation Award’ will receive an award of $500.
The winning team of the ‘Advances Social Justice and Equity Award’ will receive an award of $500.

In addition, we’re giving out $25 Storyteller Awards to teams who share their project and team progress on social media with the hashtag #JTIC25.

*Depending on the country of residence, the winning teams’ award can be distributed in one of the following ways: designate a charity to receive the award in the team’s name, donate the award to your non-profit school, or select an Amazon gift of your preference for your classroom.

Photonics Innovation Award sponsored by DRS Daylight Solutions

We are excited to offer an additional, sponsored prize to this year’s challenge from DRS Daylight Solutions. Student teams who create a solution in the field of photonics are eligible to receive:

An award of $500 for a charity* of their choice
Recognition from DRS Daylight Solutions who will share the news via their marketing channels
Certificates of their achievement
Mentoring from DRS Daylight Solutions to help take their solution to the next level upon request

To qualify for this award:

The solution must relate to the field of photonics, the physical science of light waves. Photonics deals with the science behind the generation, detection, and manipulation of light and plays an important role in many technologies that we use every day in our lives. Examples include:
- Lasers
- Light
- Fiber optics
- Infrared
Submissions must include an additional writeup as to how their solution aligns to and furthers the field of photonics.
Award consideration will only be provided for solutions that meet the general submission requirements for the challenge event as well as being substantially complete solutions.

Eligibility

A middle- or high-school educator must sign up and coordinate the event with student teams. Non-profits and other educational organizations serving teens can also apply. If you are a student, please ask your teacher to sign up so you can participate.
Every student must be in middle or high school and 13 years or older. If your middle-school class has 12-year-old students, they can participate as long as they are paired with students 13 years or older.
Educators and students must use a Google Account—preferably Google Workspace for Education—to authenticate and document progress in the Pactful app.
Because our goal is to increase access to innovation culture with underrepresented populations, we strongly encourage diversity of race and gender in student teams.

Table with multiple people and laptops open

Testimonials

Here’s what teachers who participated in prior events said this about their experience:

“Students were able to choose which of the goals aligned with their interests and were super involved. The teams did excellent professional work, remotely. This is the kind of project that makes kids interested to come to school. Being so different and relevant, the kids bought in right away and did complex research and problem solving. This project turned into a Google Genius hour as the kids focused on what interested them and real world problems. Many elements of this project gave students hope and inspired them to feel like they have power to make change.” ~ Eric Nielsen

“It has been a great learning opportunity for both my students and myself. Their perspectives were broadened, their passions were ignited, and they showed great resiliency through it all.” ~ Daina Weber

“Many of my 8th-grade students will take this experience with them into high school indicating that this was a real opportunity for them to work hands-on building a project that they could share with their peers and community.” ~ Valerie Crawford-Meyer

Graduate Extension Credit

Educators in the challenge are eligible to apply for up to 3 graduate extension credits, if needed, for employment purposes. The University of San Diego extension charges a standard rate of $75 per credit.