Innovate for Impact: A Design Thinking Challenge

Competition Details:

• Event Dates:
  • Community Day: January 13, 2026
  • Showcase Day: April 8, 2026
• Event Location: IU13 Training & Conference Center 
• Participants: Students in grades 6-12 are invited to participate in the in person competition at IU13.
  • Teams may consist of up to 3 students
  • Up to 2 teams per school
• Cost: No cost
• Registration Ends: December 22, 2025

How Can I Participate?

1. Register for the IU13 Innovate for Impact Event
2. Familiarize yourself with the Design Thinking Process
3. Identify a real-world community or environmental challenge that connects to your local or regional context. Examples include (but are not limited to):
   • Lancaster’s downtown has areas with high heat from concrete and limited green space. How might we cool our city while supporting biodiversity?
   • Lancaster’s farmlands are vital but face challenges like soil erosion and fertilizer runoff. How might farms balance productivity with sustainability?
   •  New data centers in Lancaster County raise concerns about water and energy use. How might we balance tech growth with sustainability?
4. Research the issue
5. Brainstorm ‘solutions’ to the problem
   • The final product should clearly communicate your problem, process, and proposed impact. Possible products include awareness campaigns, community flyers, short videos, digital designs, prototypes, or other creative formats
6. Attend the Community Day on January 13, 2026 to engage with at least one expert mentor (community, environmental, design/media professional).
7. Present your work at the Innovate for Impact Showcase on April 8, 2026.

Project Requirements: 

• Work must be original, ethical, and safe for participants and the environment.
• All media must use original or royalty-free materials.
• Teams should keep total costs low — focus on creativity, not expensive materials.
• Projects must be locally relevant and achievable within the school year timeline.
• Projects must connect to one Environmental Literacy Sustainability and one Tech & Engineering standard
  • Environmental Literacy Sustainability Standards
    • 3.4.6-8.C Develop a model to describe how watersheds and wetlands function as systems, including the roles and functions they serve.
    • 3.4.9-12.C Analyze and interpret how issues, trends, technologies, and policies impact watersheds and water resources.
    • 3.4.6-8.D Gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple sources to investigate how Pennsylvania environmental issues affect Pennsylvania’s human and natural systems.
    • 3.4.9-12.D Apply research and analytical skills to systematically investigate environmental issues ranging from local issues to those that are regional or global in scope.
    • 3.4.6-8.I Construct an explanation that describes regional environmental conditions and their implications on environmental justice and social equity.
    • 3.4.9-12.I Analyze and interpret data on a regional environmental condition and its implications on environmental justice and social equity.
  • Technology & Engineering Standards
    • 3.5.6-8.Q Apply a technology and engineering design thinking process.
    • 3.5.9-12.N Analyze and use relevant and appropriate design thinking processes to solve technological and engineering problems.
    • 3.5.6-8.S Illustrate the benefits and opportunities associated with different approaches to design.
    • 3.5.9-12.U Evaluate and define the purpose of a design.
    • 3.5.6-8.Y Compare, contrast, and identify overlap between the contributions of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the development of technological systems.
    • 3.5.9-12.BB Assess how similarities and differences among scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical knowledge and skills contributed to the design of a product or system.

Community Day

• Date: January 13, 2026 
• Time: 9:00 am – 2:00pm
• What to Expect: Kick off the Innovate for Impact journey with a full-day immersive experience in design thinking and community collaboration. Learn key principles of ideation, prototyping, and testing while engaging with local professionals in sustainability, technology, and innovation. Teams will gain practical skills, feedback from mentors, and a clear project focus to carry their ideas forward.
  • By the end of the day, teams will walk away with: 
    • A clear project focus
    • A toolkit of creative strategies
    • A network of support to guide them forward

Showcase Day 

• Date: April 8, 2026
• Time: 9:00 am – 11:30 am
• What to Expect: Celebrate the culmination of the design journey, where student teams bring their ideas to life and share them with an authentic audience of community members. With their solutions refined and their stories crafted, teams will present their work through dynamic media formats designed to engage and inspire.
  Throughout the event, teams will have the opportunity to share their project with local businesses, artists, and field experts, who will connect with students to explore their ideas, offer insights, and celebrate their innovation.

For more information about this academic competition, please email megan_smith@iu13.org or jason_zimmerman@iu13.org. Thank you.