JA Alumni Among Top 50 Finalists for Global Student Prize
August 1, 2023
Chegg.org and the Varkey Foundation have announced the top 50 finalists for the 2023 Global Student Prize, and we’re thrilled to share that two of them are JA alumni!
The Global Student Prize, a sister award to the renowned Global Teacher Prize, recognizes exceptional students making a real impact on learning, the lives of their peers, and on society. One winner will receive US$100,000. The Varkey Foundation and Chegg.org established the prize to create a powerful platform to showcase extraordinary students reshaping our world for the better. The prize is open to students around the world who are at least 16 years old and enrolled in an academic institution or training and skills program. Part-time students, as well as students enrolled in online courses, are also eligible for the prize.
JA Malaysia alumnus Howard Leong Zhenn and INJAZ Lebanon alumna Aya Yousef made the top 50 in 2021, and this year we’re celebrating JA alumna Sarah Apio Ongom of Uganda and JA Italy alumna Mame Maty Gning!
Sarah Ongom Apio
Sarah first participated in JA through the Tide Turners Challenge, a collaboration between JA Africa and the UN that asked young people to imagine ways to reduce plastics and in 2020, she won the JA Superfan Challenge. Having grown up in a developing country, she experienced the devastating effects of poverty and inequality on her family and community firsthand. The financial struggles she faced took a toll on her mental health and academic performance. However, she persevered and emerged as an academic achiever and a mentor to her peers.
Mame Maty Gning
Mame participated in the JA Company Program through JA Italy, and her student company won third place in the provincial Company of the Year competition. She continued to grow and strengthen her entrepreneurial skillset through JA Italy’s Girls in STEM program and went on to create a company called ValeU with several classmates. ValeU produces and sells hijabs and West African clothing for the West African and Muslim communities in Italy. Showing these communities, they are not alone in a country where they are minorities is important to Mame, who herself is an African immigrant, having moved from Senegal to Italy at four years old. In June 2022, Mame presented her company to the JA Worldwide Board of Governors at a quarterly meeting held in Milan, hosted by JA Italy.
We’ll talk to both Sarah and Mame later this month on JA Live, our live interview series on Instagram. Stay tuned to @jaworldwide for the date and time!
Did you or someone you know make the list of finalists for the 2023 Gobal Student Prize? Let us know at contact@jaworldwide.org. And, if you’re not on this list, be sure to apply next year . . . applications open in April at https://globalteacherprize.org/pages/globalstudentprize.