Students Tackle Community Issues

Guest Correspondence

As glorious as our community is, I think we would all agree we don’t live in Utopia. Similar to any other community across America, we face critical issues each and every day, most of which are difficult to mitigate, much less eradicate. A multitude of local experts are dedicated to addressing these issues, whether its homelessness, lack of affordable housing, environmental issues or diversifying the local economy, just to name a few. While we acknowledge there is no quick fix or easy solution, we continue to strive in earnest for solutions that will strengthen our community and quality of life.

On October 14-16, Sarasota County students will join in to solve our thorniest community issues in a very unique way.

Sixty students will convene for the Education Foundation of Sarasota County’s inaugural #SRQHacks Hackathon. At this three-day conference, this special group of 13- to 18-year-olds will work together in project-based teams to address our community’s most critical issues. Each team will consist of qualified area professionals who will serve as volunteer mentors— designers, developers and innovators—to create mobile applications or web-based platforms that will provide solutions to address these issues. We are still recruiting mentors! Please contact us if you’re interested.

One of the many exciting aspects of #SRQHacks Hackathon is a partnership with the Herald-Tribune Media Group and SCOPE as they moderate a community Town Hall meeting on September 22. With students, issue-specific experts, community leaders and parents alike, we will use that forum to identify the most urgent community issues that will be addressed during October’s Hackathon.

We are excited to amplify the voices of our students—our community’s future leaders—and involve them by leveraging their creativity, critical thinking and collaboration to design new solutions for our community’s benefit. 21st century learning is happening right here, right now, with real issues. The issues we solve together by unlocking our students’ potential will get a once step closer to a brighter tomorrow.

Jennifer Vigne is executive director of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.

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