Youth Venture Showcase – 84 teams! 500+ Attendees!

Over 84 youth led social ventures participated in the second Ashoka Seattle Youth Venture Showcase last evening at Cleveland High school.  That’s a record for anybody who is keeping track.  In addition there were over 500 guests that actively ‘invested’ and selected winners.  36 teams represented Cleveland High School, and 48 teams came from over 2o different high schools from the Seattle, Highline, Kent, Rent0n, and Bellevue school districts.  Needless to say, Cleveland High School swept the podium winning in all four categories.   Drum roll Please……………. and the winners are:

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  Team Success

  Highest Impact: Team Success, Cleveland HS, The issue this team addresses is education. The team leaders are Kristin Louie-18, Nasir Sheikh-18, Khari Miller-17, Ynebeb Malle-18. The team is focusing on education because they all have different social and environmental backgrounds. To approach the venture, they will work with 5-10 freshmen, and mentor them socially and academically. The freshmen they help will be different from other students because they hope to help them maintain good grades and make sure the students attend class.

• Most Sustainable: Stop the Violence, Cleveland HS, addresses the issue of violence within the Beacon Hill community in Seattle. They are going to direct their efforts toward youth and teens because there is a rise in youth violence in Seattle. Vanessa Lawson is the team leader. She is 18 years old. The team focuses on this issue because they are teens and they see violence every day directed toward them by other teens. They also see this issue in their communities at large, and understand that teens play a role in the problems and solutions surrounding violence in Seattle. They are going to make a vide
  

  Stop the Violence

  o documentary showing students at Cleveland High School the severity of youth violence and street violence in the Beacon Hill community. They are going to direct the film at freshmen because they are the younger generation and are easily influenced by what they see. They hope to see a positive change arise within their school.

• Best Business Model: Future For All, Cleveland HS, Future for All addresses teen pregnancy. The team leader is Ricky Tran. He is 18 years old. The team focuses on this issue because they have seen many teens in high school getting pregnant, dropping out and ending up in poverty. They are going to get help from the clinic at their school and the health teacher. They are trying to inform underclassmen about the situation and hope to increase the awareness of teen pregnancy.

• Best Pitch and Presentation: A.D.F.S. Clean Up, Cleveland HS, The issue A.D.F.S. Clean Up seeks to address is littering around the school (Cleveland High School) and community (Beacon Hill) in Seattle. The team leader is Farhiya and she is supported by Demeno, who are 17 and 18 years old, respectively. The team focuses on this issue because littering is a problem around the community, and the students feel passionate about becoming part of the solution to the problem. When interviewed, the team said “we approach our venture by buying supplies to clean up our school and scheduling days for all students to be able to earn community service hours by picking up trash around the school and [surrounding] community.”

• Cleveland High School Overall Winner:
  

  Education Without Borders

  Education Without Borders, Cleveland HS, Education without Borders is addressing the insufficient resources for undocumented students. Alejandra is the team leader and she is 17 and Diana is the other team leader and she is 18. They focus on this issue because they believe that undocumented students should have every needed resource so they can pay for college. They will approach the issue with and event that will inform the students about resources that are available for them. As well, they will give out resources to students, such as scholarship packets, etc. They will also have speakers who were undocumented when they went to school and give some tips to the students about where to look for help

A HUGE thank you to Cleveland High School and our partners there, Beyond Home for filming, and our program sponsor Intelius.