Teens

Visionmaker NYC Challenge

ARE YOU A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT IN NYC?

Regularly text, chat, meet people, and share pics/videos online or through social media? Love to organize events, parties, or small gatherings? Enjoy creating, experimenting, designing, and producing? Interested in digital media and technology? Care deeply about making meaningful contributions to important causes? Want to make your community a better place?

BECOME A VISIONMAKER!

We need your energy, enthusiasm, passion, and talent to create a digital, online competition that will empower and mobilize teens, city-wide, to become smarter about the nature of NYC so they can create a better future for it.

APPLY NOW

WHAT IS THE VISIONMAKER NYC CHALLENGE COMPETITION?

WCS will support high school students in revolutionizing the political process leading to urban planning in NYC. The Visionmaker NYC Challenge will be a competition for high school students by high school students. It will provide training to teens about the nature of New York City (NYC) so they can do something about it because the future of NYC, and all cities, is essential to the future of nature on earth. Visionmaker NYC is a web-based application that allows anyone to design a vision for NYC, set decades or even centuries in the future. Participants will experiment with the Visionmaker NYC app while also exploring ecology in NYC, identifying sustainability issues impacting them, and developing and sharing their visions for alternate futures of the city. Working together at the Bronx Zoo, participants will collaborate with teens from the Human Rights Activist Project at Global Kids and the Science Career Ladder Program at the New York Hall of Science to design, promote, and launch a citywide competition challenging all NYC teens to become Visionmakers.

WHAT WILL YOU DO AS A VISIONMAKER?

• Design, promote, and launch a citywide, digital, online competition challenging teens to become Visionmakers
• Collaborate with teens from the Human Rights Activist Project at Global Kids and the Science Career Ladder Program at the New York Hall of Science
• Discover urban ecology in NYC
• Identify sustainability issues impacting you and NYC
• Experiment with Visionmaker NYC, a web-based simulation application
• Develop and share alternate futures to improve the nature of NYC
• Review and judge competition submissions

WHAT WILL YOU RECEIVE AS A VISIONMAKER?

• 75-hours of training
• Access to respected experts working in the professional fields of urban ecology, digital media, and technology
• Guidance on how to use social media and social marketing for a city-wide competition
• Increased confidence in leadership and public speaking
• Skills for collaborating with others from different backgrounds with diverse perspectives
• Personal and professional experience for resumes and college applications
• New friends and relationships within the community and across the city
• Snacks during after-school program sessions
• Paid transportation costs
• $125 participation stipend upon completion of the program

WHAT ARE THE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS?

• You are a student between the ages of 14 and 18 years.
• You have good communication skills.
• You are willing to work with a diverse group of high school students.
• You are able to commit to the after-school program schedule at the Bronx Zoo, one day per week from 4:00-6:30 PM, October through March; and, attend four full-day training sessions from 9:00-3:00 PM. Review the full list of dates at, http://bit.ly/1Km5AA8.
• You are able to attend the culminating event on a Saturday in early March (TBD).
• You are interested in environmental issues and how people can influence positive change in communities for a sustainable future.
• You are interested in strengthening your skills as a youth leader.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Apply online by October 19th

**Deadline extended. Don't wait! Apply now!**

HAVE A QUESTION?

Email visionmaker@wcs.org

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This program has been made possible through generous funding and support from the Hive Digital Media Learning Fund in the New York Community Trust and support from the Mozilla Hive NYC Learning Network.