Challenge 2050 receives national award for its work

UF’s Challenge 2050 Project was just an idea in 2013.

Now, Challenge 2050, a combination of different projects aimed at solving global issues, is an award-winning program.

The project was awarded the Outstanding Program Award at the Association of Leadership Educators conference this summer, an award equivalent to being national program of the year, said Tony Andenoro, an assistant professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the director of the project. UF was nominated to submit a packet about the project and won top honors, he said.

Andenoro said the program began with the thought that undergraduates could provide insight into global problems.

“Just because someone is 17 doesn’t mean their perspective is any less valid,” he said.

Challenge 2050 is part of UF’s Global Leadership and Change certificate program, where students work with professionals and policy-makers in a series of four classes. The goal of the certificate program is to find global solutions through research.

What began as an academic and student development program of 36 students grew into the award-winning Challenge 2050 Project, which currently consists of 220 students.

Leslie Pedigo, the director of awards and recognition at the Association of Leadership Educators, said they believe collaboration is important to fostering new leaders, which is what their award recognizes.

The award looks at program design, impact and sustainability, she said. Three volunteers with the association judged the 2050 project using a controlled scoring process.

One reviewer said “the depth and breadth of this application and the students, communities, and issues it supports left me feeling like it should be a model for other programs to strive for.”

Andenoro said the award is validation of the hard work students and staff have put in over the years.

“Our students are the power of the program,” he said. “No question about it.”

The Challenge 2050 Project has students from almost all of the undergraduate colleges and 29 majors, Andenoro said.

Corina McBride was the second student to complete the certificate program, finishing two years ago. McBride, a 21-year-old UF natural resource conservation senior, was asked to be the program associate for creative development.

She said getting the award validated the project and their work.

“It shows that what we’re doing is not only different,” she said.  “It’s exceptional, and it’s working.”

Since receiving their honors, Andenoro said the next big initiative for the project is expanding globally. Though projects are already active in Haiti, Jamaica and Brazil, he said the program will go to Africa for the first time in 2019.

He said UF is the only school that engages undergraduates in this fashion. The project will establish a partnership with University of California, Davis, and eventually other schools, so they can continue to solve global issues.