The winners of the Eitanim Environmental Challenge will be announced on Sunday at 11 p.m. Israel time. Over 400 students from middle and high schools across the US competed this year, according to a press release from the Israeli-American Council.
The challenge tasked students with identifying Israeli environmental inventions that they then pitched as solutions intended to address the impacts of climate change.
What is Eitanim?
Eitanim (strong ones) is a year-long program that presents students with real-life problems to work through while teaching them how to research, present and execute their ideas, IAC’s website explains. The council also states that the program connects Jewish-American and Israeli-American teens with Israel by way of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“Everyone talks about the challenge of connecting Generation Z to Israel. We mainly see an opportunity,” IAC co-founder and CEO Shoham Nicolet said in the release. “If we put the teenagers in the driver’s seat, with a clear purpose and sense of belonging, not only will they have a strong connection to Israel, but they will become the connectors of others.”
“If we put the teenagers in the driver’s seat, with a clear purpose and sense of belonging, not only will they have a strong connection to Israel, but they will become the connectors of others.”
IAC co-founder and CEO Shoham Nicolet
Maj. Eitan Balachsan is the namesake of the program, the release says. An IDF soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade, he was killed by Hezbollah operatives in 1999 during the First Lebanon War.
The challenge
Teams from 16 regions worked with mentors in entrepreneurship, marketing and hi-tech to create social media pitches for their projects. Another component of the challenge required teams to present in front of panels of judges.
From the 17 middle school and eight high school teams that advanced to the final round, a panel of judges – including Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN – will select two winners: one middle school and one high school team. Erdan will take the two winning teams on a tour of the UN.
Given the importance of protecting the environment, Erdan shared an encouraging message to the competitors in a video address. “The great work you will be doing as part of this important project is not only benefiting us, but also the generations to come.”
The winners will be announced in a ceremony that can be viewed on IAC’s Facebook page.