From May 20 to 23, around 120 young people and teachers from Qatar, the United States, Spain, Mexico and Colombia will meet to discuss solutions to Medellin’s problems.
The young people will lead and prototype solutions to problems to reduce inequalities in communes 4 (Aranjuez), 13 (San Javier) and 14 (El Poblado).
Medellín Challenge is led by Colegio San José de Las Vegas, in alliance with the World Innovation Summit for Education -WISE-, Global Education Forum; in addition, with public and private schools from the city’s Educational Innovation Hub and with the support of governmental and private companies.
This year, starting May 24, the city of Medellin, Colombia, will host the World Innovation Summit for Education -WISE-, the international summit on educational innovation of Doha (Qatar).
Within the framework of WISE 2023, we will hold Medellin Challenge, an event in which Colegio San José de Las Vegas, together with governmental, educational and private entities, aims to connect students from local, national and international institutions through the resolution of real city challenges that impact different communities.
The event, which will take place May 20-23 in Medellin, will bring together 120 students and teachers from Qatar, the United States, Spain, Mexico and Colombia. The teams have been working online since January of this year to think about solving real problems in Medellín.
MDE Challlenge launching
«In this event, students from around the world and local students are coming together to think about how to solve situations in the communes, for which they have talked to community leaders. Young people from India, Mexico, the United States, Qatar and Spain have been getting to know Medellin from afar and will come in person, guided by students, teachers and mentors from our educational institutions and colleagues from universities who are accompanying these global learning spaces, where students are thinking about problems of the planet,» explained Gloria Figueroa Ortiz, director of the San José de Las Vegas Corporation about this event.
«In Medellin Challenge we have been working on different sustainable alternatives that allow us to improve the community in which we have decided to work, for example, in the care of water for the community of El Tesoro La Virgen, making the water in this community drinkable», so said Isabela Ardila Paternina, a student of Colegio San José de Las Vegas, who together with students from Mexico and Colombia lead a possible solution to the problem of equitable access to public resources in commune 4.
On Saturday, May 20, the young people will visit different scenarios of the city, including communes 4, 13 and 14; in addition, they will visit spaces such as Centro de Desarrollo Cultural de Moravia (Moravia Cultural Development Center), Parque Biblioteca San Javier (San Javier Park Library) and the UVA Ilusión Verde.
On May 21 they will make the prototypes for the solutions to the problems at Parque Explora; the following day they will learn about our Metro culture at different stations and, finally, on May 23 at 1:00 p.m. they will present the solution to the challenges to different audiences at the auditorium of the Colegio San José de Las Vegas, Medellín campus.
The international teams that will participate in the Medellín Challenge are: Champal School (Mexico), Qatar Waqra (Qatar), SEK School El Castillo (Spain), Purdue Polytechnic High School (United States) and Jaipuria School (India). The local schools are Colombo Británico, Benedictino, Montessori, Pinares, Cumbres, INEM José Félix de Restrepo, Marymount, UPB, Conquistadores, La Enseñanza, Comfenalco and San José de Las Vegas.
Participating students will have the opportunity to present their educational experience at the WISE global education event, to be held on May 24 at Universidad Eafit.
Medellín Challenge has allies such as World Innovation Summit for Education -WISE-, Global Education Forum, Arduino Education, Parque Explora, Metro de Medellín, Colegio Colombo Británico, Colegio Benedictino, Comfenalco and Hub de Innovación Educativa. It has also had thematic advisors from Celsia, Universidad EIA, Universidad UPB and Colegio Marymount.
Thus, young people from around the world are showing their leadership to co-create the future of our city and the world.