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View Application

View the application questions below. To access the application, the Teacher/Mentor should register for the Challenge in order to set up a team(s). After the teams are created, each team member will be emailed login information to access and complete the application. Students are responsible for completing the application. Teacher/Mentors will only be able to view the application.

For tips on completing the application, visit Getting Started.

Project Title:

Summary: (2-3 sentences describing your project)

Topic Area: (check all that apply)

  • Energy
  • Biodiversity
  • Land management
  • Water conservation & clean-up
  • Air & climate

Are you continuing work on a project that was begun before the Challenge opened in August 2011? Yes/No 

Step 1: Identify and Research a Problem or Issue That Has Global Impact

  • Identify a sustainability-related problem that you will address and state the negative effects of this problem. Why did you choose this topic? Describe the environment and/or people impacted by the problem. Include the population, size and other relevant data.
  • Discuss any work done before the Challenge began on August 24, 2011.  If others were involved in the previous work, explain their roles. 
  • Discuss your team's research. What publications and media review, prior observations, and/or collected data did you use to develop your problem statement?
  • State your team's hypothesis. Explain how this hypothesis will help to solve the problem by changing the physical attributes of a locality, social behaviors of people in the community, local/global government policies, or any combination of the above.

Limit your response to 1,250 words or less.

Step 2: Plan and Design Your Project

Describe the design of your project:

  • What is your team's action plan?  Include experimental design, project steps (including communication and tracking plans), timeline for completion, necessary resources, and proposed method.
  • Specify how each member of the team will contribute. Define the role of your mentor in your project plan. Identify any other individuals who will help with your project and define their roles (this includes teachers, parents, classmates, and community, business and organizational leaders).
  • What variables did you select to measure the potential solution's impact on the issue or problem?
  • Describe your team's data collection processes, including what data you plan to collect.

Limit your response to 1,000 words.

Step 3: Analyze and Provide Results

  • Describe all qualitative and quantitative data collected by your team, including charts, tables, graphs, written notes, sketches, photographs, or video. 
  • Explain any key results derived from the data above.
    • What happened as a result of your proposed solution?
  • Describe your plan's progress. 
    • What did your team's experimental plan reveal?
    • Did your hypothesis impact the problem it identified?  If yes, how?
    • How did you modify the plan over time as the project evolved?

Limit your text response to 1,000 words.

Step 4: State Your Conclusion

  • State your solution and describe what makes it unique.
  • Explain your conclusion based on your data.
    • Is your solution effective?
    • What made the plan work?
    • What challenges occurred along the way?
    • How did your team overcome those challenges?
    • What would you do differently if given the opportunity?
  • How could your solution have global implications?

Limit your response to 1,000 words.

Step 5: Share It

  • How did your team spread the word?
    • Provide details and examples of how your team has reached others to communicate your findings and motivate them to get involved.  Include documentation of a communication strategy and audience response.
    • What resources did your team use to extend your project's impact? (e.g. creating a website, a social networking page, and/or a marketing tool that includes a description of the project.)
  • Explain in detail how other communities (domestic and/or global) might benefit from the team's conclusions.
    • What unique challenges does someone replicating your project have to keep in mind?
    • How can you overcome the challenges that there are to implementing your solution on a global scale?

Limit your response to 500 words.

Step 6: Attachments (Optional)

In this step you may attach supplemental materials to support your project application. Please follow the attachment guidelines provided below.

  • PDF:

    You may choose to upload one PDF containing materials to support your application.  The PDF may be no longer than 12 pages in length, be no more than 50MB and may contain the following:

    • PowerPoint slides
    • Excel data tables
    • Links to website(s) your team created to support this project (maximum of 2) and/or screenshots of this website
    • Images that support your application
    • Graphs, charts, etc.

Please do not embed video links in your PDF attachment.

Click here to access a free pdf converter.

  • Video

Additionally, you may include the link to one YouTube video that is two minutes or less. To make the video private, click here. Videos will be reviewed for content, not the aesthetic quality of the video.  If your video is over two minutes, only the first two minutes will be viewed. 

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