High School and Community College Educators: Register Your Team for the NIU Innovation Challenge!

NIU STEAM and the Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability (NICCS) are excited to announce our upcoming Innovation Challenge for the 25-26 school year.

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Learn more! Two free educator info sessions will be held online on Sept 23 and Oct 14 at 4 p.m.
https://calendar.niu.edu/event/niu-innovation-challenge-educator-info-sessions

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About the NIU Innovation Challenge

Our goal is to provide a comprehensive opportunity for high school and community college students to strengthen their critical thinking and communication skills by collaborating with team members to solve an authentic problem. Please see the information below and check out one of our virtual information sessions to learn more about this event. We hope to see you there!

Students will work in teams of 2 to 4 to analyze an authentic problem and collaborate with an industry partner to generate a solution. By aligning to these goals, the Innovation Challenge meets the criteria established by ISBE for team-based challenges.

The challenge takes place in several stages:

• Teams register and the challenge problem is release beginning on Sept. 23.
• In October, curricular resources and coach/sponsor support will be available.
• Teams are assigned a mentor to provide feedback on their written proposal.
• Through Dec. 5 teams work on their written solution with guidance from their educator and mentor.
• The top high school and community college teams advance to the final, in-person challenge on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Northern Illinois University.

Learn more and register your student team at:

https://niusteam.niu.edu/innovation-challenge/