One of the ways the YouthQuest Foundation encourages young people to be creative thinkers and problem solvers is by supporting the Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition.
This is the fourth straight year we have provided the prize money for the contest, in which middle school and high school students from Loudoun County, Va., develop projects to address issues they believe are important in their community. The goal is to encourage, support and reward the youth of Loudoun County for making positive changes in their own lives and the lives of others.
Twenty-seven teams presented their projects to a panel of judges on March 19 at the Loudoun County Public Schools Administration Building in Ashburn.
“I was very impressed. These kids are real go-getters,” said YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks, who served as one of the two dozen judges for the first time this year. He praised the students’ passion for their chosen issues, which included education, homelessness, bullying, sexual assault, stress and depression, diversity, traffic safety and health.
The $1,000 grand prize went to Charitable Act, which provides summer theater camps for underprivileged children. Hannah Ratcliffe founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to “share her love for theater with the world.” Hannah and her Briar Woods High School classmates Kelsey Clark and Allison Ball wowed the judges with a presentation that featured a little three-part harmony and lots of enthusiasm.
Amina Bukasa from Virginia Academy took the $500 second-place prize for her Define Yourself project, which aims to boost young women’s self-esteem with activities that celebrate their inner and outer beauty.
Robab Newbury and Rohan Arora from J. Michael Lunsford Middle School earned third place and $250 for LOUDOUNHEALTH, a project that provides online information about health and diseases for the people of Loudoun County.
Winners of the fourth- through seventh-place prizes will get $200 and $100 will go to the eighth-, ninth- and tenth-place teams.
The top 10 teams will be honored at a reception on March 26, where they will talk about their winning projects and receive their prize money. A full list of winners and their projects will be available on the Loudoun Youth website.
Dylan Foster, who plans to be an artist, took full advantage of the new tools in our Lab. With a three-color printer available for the first time, he designed several red, white and blue creations, including a beautifully detailed chess piece. For his robot project, he made a battery holder that’s simpler and works better than the one our Director of Instruction, Tom Meeks, had devised. Our classes also taught him to stay focused on his goals. “I used to give up a whole lot easier,” he said. The South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy graduate, who had never been so far from home before, said he “met a lot of good people” and gained valuable skills during the week in the 3D ThinkLink Lab. “It’s worth the time you put into it,” Dylan said. “You can learn a lot and do a lot.”
“Frustration was a big problem for me,” Kamie Moody admitted. Our 3D ThinkLink classes became her “outlet” from the daily pressures at Freestate ChalleNGe Academy. “Every Monday, when I had 3D, I was excited,” she recalled. Kamie appreciated the chance to learn about CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software because it will help her pursue a career in architecture. Experimenting with Moment of Inspiration’s new features brought out her creative talent. On a small scale, her designs look like jewelry, but on a large scale, they could be futuristic buildings. “The 3D ThinkLink program basically solidified what I already knew; that designing is something that I really want to do,” she said.
Our training might turn out to be a life-changing experience for Caleb Dujmovic. He was one of the top students in his 3D ThinkLink class at Freestate ChalleNGe Academy, where he said he enjoyed learning to make things for his family and friends. His favorite lab project was making a cellphone stand because it incorporated everything he’d learned during the week about Moment of Inspiration’s new features. Caleb applies the problem-solving skills we’ve taught him to his current job in the construction business, but he’s set his sights on a bio-engineering career. It’s something he’d never considered until he visited the 
Nicknamed “Highspeed” by the staff at Capital Guardian ChalleNGe Academy because he was often ahead of his classmates, Christopher Coleman was first exposed to 3D design software in 8th grade. Later, he “really got hooked on 3D” in the Hirshhorn Museum’s ARTLAB+ program. Our 3D ThinkLink classes taught him how to use new design tools and printers he’d never tried before. The self-described “loner” says he also learned to ask for help and work with others. “This program particularly helped me with a lot of my faults – things that I’ve got to improve,” Christopher said. “I learned to be more humble … There’s people that know stuff that I don’t know, and they don’t know things that I know.”
At first, Sherquana Adams didn’t want to sign up for our class at South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy because she thought 3D printing was “for geeks.” But the more she learned about the many ways this technology is being used, the more interested she became. Sherquana, who aspires to be a surgical technician, was amazed by the medical applications for 3D printing. She thought it was “really cool” to put together 3D-printed pieces to make a kid-size prosthetic hand during Lab Week. “I now have a way to express myself,” she said. In just a few months, her opinion of 3D printing has shifted 180 degrees: “This is not for geeks, this is for anybody!”
Every time a teen drops out, we all pay a price. Dropouts drain public resources because they are much more likely than high school graduates to be unemployed, need government aid, abuse alcohol and drugs and be arrested. At least two-thirds of dropouts spend time in jail. On average, dropouts earn about half as much as graduates, so they contribute less to the economy.
