This year, Armenia is participating in the Rise program for the first time and TUMO is an official partner! If you’re 15 to 17 years old (or turning 15 as of July 1, 2023), are proactive and creative, have an intermediate level of English, and would like to suggest a project that will solve humanity’s most pressing issues, then this is an exceptional educational opportunity for you.
What is Rise?
In 2019, Schmidt Futures (a philanthropic initiative of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy Schmidt) partnered with the Rhodes Trust (an educational initiative based at the University of Oxford) to create the Rise program with a financial commitment of $1 billion.
The program aims to support 15 to 17 year olds from over 170 countries, including Armenia. Rise Global Winners have lifelong access to benefits such as scholarships, mentoring, funding, and career development opportunities. Teens must complete a project application and implement a project aimed at solving society’s most pressing problems.
What benefits does RISE offer?
- Residential Summit
- Programming & Education
- Global Winner Network
- Higher Education Scholarships
- Technology Package
Prerequisites for participation
– Be between 15 to 17 years old (as of July 1, 2023)
– Be proficient in English
STAGES OF THE PROGRAM
- Registration on the website
After registering, you’ll need to answer a few questions with a short video or text. What kind of problems does your project solve? What is your motivation, what obstacles have you faced in life, and how did you overcome them? What should the organizers of the program know about you? - Project implementation
You’ll need to create a project that you’ll be able to complete from the moment you submit your application until the RISE application deadline on January 25. Whether it’s a product, business, software, social or political movement, piece of music, art, performance or film. The idea is to be creative and implement a project that will benefit people from your community or even the entire population of the world.
For example, Garima from India is raising awareness about crimes against young women in India, and is teaching young women in India self-defense mechanisms to protect themselves against such attacks. Recently, Garima was selected as World Literacy Foundation’s Ambassador from India. Meanwhile, Naomi from Nigeria created a website featuring blogs and videos from medical professionals explaining why healthcare should be important to her fellow Nigerians. Another project was a website that aims to prevent eating disorders created by Ilaria from Italy. - Three stages of the project
Once you’ve started your project, you should document your progress with videos at each stage. Use the video to provide evidence of the work that you’ve completed. How did you choose this particular project and how are you implementing it?
Here you will state the topic you chose, why you chose that topic, what problem it solves, how you researched it, why you think your project is a good way to solve that problem, etc. You’ll also need to indicate which three out of 50 categories your project falls into (Examples: agriculture, animals, tourism, writing, journalism, health, etc.) - Complete the form to tell RISE more about yourself
Give more information about your background education, achievements, aspirations, and commitments to service. - Review other projects
When you successfully complete all the above stages, you’ll move to the second part of the program: reviewing projects created by other participants, selecting the most interesting and inspiring ones, and commenting on them. The deadline for this round is January 31st at 20:59 (local time). - Quizzes and games
This stage is open at any point of the application. These are not the kinds of activities that you can study for, so simply bring yourself!
During the entirety of the program, you’ll have access to a number of webinars and informational meetings, as well as the opportunity to interact with other participants through the RISE Global Discord channel.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
You should start implementing your project from the moment you apply for the program. The later you apply, the less time you will have to implement the project. You can edit the video clips required for the three phases of the project until January 25th. However, by January 25th at 20:59 (local time), your project should be finalized entirely.
How will program winners be selected?
– In the first stage, the projects are evaluated by other participants
– The applications with the highest scores are then reviewed by the committee, which includes global experts working in fields like education management, non-profit organizations, and more.
– Afterwards, a maximum of 500 teens move on to the final stage where they’ll participate in a series of events and interviews.
– In the final round, these applicants are evaluated by the Schmidt Futures and Rhodes Trust review committee, which selects 100 winners.
Application deadline
The deadline is January 25, 2023 at 20:59 (local time), and the deadline for reviewing projects created by other participants is January 31, 2023 at 20:59 (local time).
Winners will be announced on or before October 2023.
Apply to the program through this link.
The link to recordings of previous RISE events can be found here.
Register for the upcoming program events here, don’t forget that the events are listed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Check out the program rules here.
You can find informative videos about the program on the Rise YouTube channel.
Volunteering
If you’d really like to participate in the program but cannot do so because of the age limit, then we have good news for you! The project also needs volunteers over the age of 21.
Volunteers have two main responsibilities:
– Reviewing the projects included in the applications
– Evaluating the 500 finalists
Prerequisites for participation
– Be over the age of 21
– Have previous selection experience
– Be proficient in English
– Not be a relative of, or have a close relationship with (such as family friends, student,
intern), a current RISE applicant due to conflict of interest
– Not have applied to be a RISE Global Winner in the past two years
Benefits
– Training and development: learn about the innovative tools RISE uses for selection
– Connect with peers and industry professionals from across the globe
– Have fun engaging in interactive activities (mixed resource games, group
problem-solving, etc.) during Finalist Days
– Be invited to thought-provoking events via the monthly Selector Convenings
– Help identify the youth who may one day change the world!
To apply, visit this link and click this link to find resources that’ll help you submit your application.
If you have any other questions, please email us at rise@tumo.org