$1 million U.N. competition open to students

For the second year in a row, Emporia State will send students to the Hult Prize competition for a chance to win $1 million and to work with professionals on their projects. This year’s challenge is to create 10,000 jobs for youth by the next decade.

“It’s taking all of the things you learn in school or in class out into the real, trying to implement real ideas that could make a real change in someone’s life,” said Saandhyarag Sasidhar, Hult Prize campus director and senior business administration major. “Also, at the same time you get to network with all the professionals out there.”

The Hult Prize is backed by the Clinton Foundation and the United Nations, according to the official website. The ESU Hult Prize groups are sponsored by the School of Business, Office of International Education, Information Technology, Marketing and Media relations, and the Teachers College, according to hultprizeat.com/emporiastate.

“The Hult Prize is basically a social entrepreneurial experience,” Sasidhar said. “It’s an opportunity for all of our students to get their entrepreneurial mindset and to get that real life experience.”

Sasidhar would like to make ESU the Hult Prize school for the state, so if other schools wanted to compete, they would have to work with ESU. He also wants to embed the contest in the culture of ESU.

“Right now it’s like ‘Oh we have to think about how to make it a big hit this year,’ but if I were able to…embed Hult Prize into the culture, (that would be the goal),” Sasidhar said. “That’s what I’m trying to focus on this year.”

There will be an informational session at 6 p.m. Nov. 8 in the Blue Key Room in the Memorial Union, according to an email blast from Grayce McAllister, operations manager and senior business major.

Those with questions about the Hult Prize can also email [email protected].