Local student teams develop creative, practical solutions to strengthen San Diego communities.
San Diego, CA, April 17, 2025 — Aspen Challenge: San Diego—a partnership between the Aspen Institute and the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) supported by the Bezos Family Foundation—concluded this week after local students showcased their solutions to support their communities and tackle big issues. Over the past nine weeks, 15 high school teams from across SDUSD took aim at critical challenges close to home, with the goal of building a stronger, more connected city.
Teams were first introduced to a series of topics by expert “challengers” during a kickoff event in February. Since then, the high school teams have been designing and implementing projects tailored to the needs of their schools and communities. The Solution Showcase, held on Tuesday, April 15, marked the culmination of weeks worth of collaboration, conversation, and community engagement. A panel of judges then convened, and three winning teams were announced the following day.
The grand prize-winning team will present at the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this June to an audience of global leaders and innovators, while second and third place winners received cash prizes. The grand prize was awarded to San Diego Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical High School for “Spill the Tea,” a student-led campaign to foster open dialogue about substance use and champion the well-being of LGBTQIA+ youth through inclusive community support, monthly partnerships, and access to vital resources. Clairemont High School took home second place for REACH OUT, a compassionate project dedicated to building safe in-person and online spaces where teens experiencing housing insecurity can access resources, support, and a path toward a more stable, empowered future. Third place was awarded to Logan Memorial Educational Campus for No Phone Zone (NPZ), an initiative that encourages teens to disconnect from their devices and connect with each other by creating emotionally and physically safe spaces for meaningful, in-person interaction and community building.
Participating Schools Included:
Canyon Hills High School
Clairemont High School
Crawford High School
Patrick Henry High School
Logan Memorial Educational Campus
Mira Mesa High School
Mission Bay High School
Mt. Everest Academy
Point Loma High School
San Diego High School
San Diego Metropolitan Regional and Technical High School
San Diego SOAR Academy – Youth Transition Campus (two teams)
Scripps Ranch High School
University City High School
Launched in 2013, the Aspen Challenge was created by the Aspen Institute, with support from the Bezos Family Foundation, in partnership with Los Angeles Unified School District to empower students as leaders in their communities. Since then, the initiative has expanded to cities including Denver, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Louisville, Miami, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Boston—and now concludes its final year in San Diego with a celebration of local impact and student leadership.
For more information about the Aspen Challenge: San Diego, contact: ben.berliner@aspeninstitute.org
Photos of the winning teams can be accessed here.
###
The Aspen Challenge provides inspiration, tools, and a platform for young people to design solutions to some of the most critical problems humanity faces. For more information on Aspen Challenge, please visit www.aspenchallenge.org.
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
San Diego Unified School District is the second largest school district in California, with 175 schools, 95,011 students UTK-12, and over 17,000 employees. While the school district is largely influenced by its close proximity to the US-Mexico border, over 75 languages are spoken in schools situated in diverse suburban and urban communities. The district has a core focus on equity and belonging so all students and staff in San Diego Unified may thrive in school and beyond.
The Bezos Family Foundation envisions a world in which all young people reach their full potential and meaningfully contribute to society. The Foundation pursues that vision by making grants and by operating their own programs, with the aim of fueling the science of learning and enabling its application in a variety of settings. The Foundation’s mission is to invest in the science of learning and the experiences that youth need from birth to high school to pursue their own path for success. For more information, visit www.bezosfamilyfoundation.org.