SISFU Alumnae Fly To Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) For Climate Change Competition
Two recent graduates of Southville International School Affiliated with Foreign Universities (SISFU), Theresa Maliksi and Ellice Adornado, were chosen as semifinalists in the Climate CoLab, a prestigious climate change competition and project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They entered the “Shifting Behavior for a Changing Climate” contest with the proposal entry “Science Meets Art: Changing Behavior by Design”. Out of the 80 submitted proposals from all over the world, only 18 made it to the semifinals.
Their proposal aims to spark climate action and change people’s behaviors towards climate change through a game-changing approach - integrating the best of both worlds, Science and Art, by combining behavioral science with creative-thinking through social platforms (publication, website, and mobile app) that use compelling designs to drive action.
MIT Climate CoLab is an online community of over 55,000 professionals, scientists and students, where people work together to develop proposals for how to address climate change. As contest semifinalists, they will go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts to take part in the MIT Climate CoLab Conference to be held on September 28-29, 2016. They will be presenting their proposal to leaders from businesses, non-profit organizations, governments, and educational institutions from around the world. Some of the notable Climate CoLab collaborators are the World Bank Group, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Nike, Union of Concerned Scientists, The Elders, and World Green Building Council.
Theresa and Ellice are persistent in their advocacy and are very passionate to make their proposal a reality; they already released 2 of the 3 online publication pioneer issues which can be viewed through this link: issuu.com/mundojournal. These have already reached four continents. Their eagerness to be catalysts of change stemmed from their experiences at Southville. SISFU did not only serve as a business learning institution but also an entity that encourages solving social and environmental problems. Being exposed to both theoretical and practical learning have helped them to innovate solutions to problems that are relevant and timely such as Climate Change.
The Conference is a part of HUBweek, a week-long city-wide festival celebrating ideas and innovation in the Boston area hosted by MIT, Harvard University, the Boston Globe, and Mass General Hospital. HUBweek is a first-of-its-kind civic collaboration that brings together the most creative and inventive minds making an impact in Boston and around the world.
Theresa and Ellice both earned their Bachelor’s Degrees from the University of Chester (United Kingdom) delivered in SISFU, finishing Computer Science and Business Management respectively. They both graduated with top honours.