The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Challenge provides inspiration, a platform, and tools for young people to design solutions to some of the most critical and complicated problems that humanity faces. This program offers students a chance to foster their curiosity and creativity, practice critical thinking and problem solving, and offer fresh perspectives on issues vital to our society and their communities. Throughout the Aspen Challenge experience, young people and educators take deeper, project-based learning to a new level, leading change on a range of topics – immigration, STEM education, violence prevention, gentrification, health- and developing lifelong learning and educating skills. Representing diverse communities and backgrounds, these students and educators share a commitment to creating positive change in the world. Teams gather at the Challenge Forum to hear from leading thinkers who tackle some of our world’s toughest problems. These leaders pose challenges to the teams, asking them to create innovative solutions.