![\"UT](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Honors-Hult-Team.jpg\")
<\/a>UT students, from left, Merna Naji, Kaitlyn Opperman, Mahbod Pourriahi, Abigail Dudek and Nehemiah Scott will travel to Dubai over spring break to participate in the Hult Prize Competition.<\/p><\/div>They have been selected in the top 1.25 percent of more than 20,000 applying teams from around the globe to compete in regional competitions for the Sixth Annual Hult Prize. In doing so, they have joined the ranks of students from schools such as the University of Cambridge, John Hopkins University, the London School of Economics, the University of Virginia and Northwestern University.<\/p>\n
The team includes four Jesup Scott Honors College undergraduate students \u2014 Kaitlyn Opperman, Merna Naji, Mahbod Pourriahi and Abigail Dudek \u2014 as well as one doctoral candidate, Nehemiah Scott, who is in the Manufacturing and Technology Management Program.<\/p>\n
Coined the \u201cNobel Prize for Students\u201d by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the annual Hult Prize Competition is the world\u2019s largest student case competition, awarding the winners $1 million in seed capital to promote social good. The competition, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, capitalizes on promising ideas of young and socially engaged entrepreneurs, growing them into actual startup enterprises. <\/p>\n
The theme of this year\u2019s competition is to propose a solution for early childhood education disparities for residents of urban slums.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to close the gap between children growing up without access to early education programs that jump-start the learning process, among other things,\u201d said Opperman, a junior majoring in secondary\/adolescence to young adult education. \u201cThe brain development that happens at that age is crucial to setting them up for the rest of their education and lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to find a solution that is scalable, sustainable and holistic,\u201d added Naji, a junior majoring in biology. \u201cBecause we are such a diverse team, we have members who bring health, educational, business and engineering\/infrastructure perspectives to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from their diversity of academic backgrounds, the UT Hult team is also different from traditional teams in that the majority of Hult Prize competitors are MBA students, rather than undergraduate students.<\/p>\n
“We are extremely humbled and excited to showcase our social enterprise before globally recognized social leaders and some of the best institutions in the world,\u201d Scott added. \u201cMost of all, we are excited for the opportunity to create positive educational change in the lives of children, their families and their communities.”<\/p>\n
All of the UT students involved credit their advancement in large part to the networks and resources provided by the Jesup Scott Honors College.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are surprised by the variety of offerings available in the Honors College,\u201d said Dudek, a sophomore majoring in international business. \u201cIt has broken all of the expectations I have ever had about being a student at UT, offering opportunities I never thought would be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pourriahi, a sophomore majoring in bioengineering, echoed the sentiment\u2028: \u201cThe Honors College allows you to go beyond the classroom and to develop such involved relationships with your professors,\u201d he said. \u201cI have friends at other universities who can barely speak to their advisers let alone casually walk into the dean\u2019s office and receive guidance on projects.\u201d\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
Dr. Lakeesha Ransom, dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College, will travel to Dubai with the UT Hult team during spring break for the regional finals competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are dedicated to creating as many transformative opportunities for our students as possible in the Honors College, and I\u2019m incredibly proud that the UT Hult team will compete in the regional finals,\u201d Ransom said. \u201cI look forward to all that they will accomplish.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Five UT students will travel to Dubai over spring break to participate in the Hult Prize Competition for the chance to win $1 million to promote social good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37591,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33134\/revisions\/37591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}