Calif. Dream Week encourages sustainable student design
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Chico, CA -- California Dream Week announces its first edition challenging high school juniors and seniors from Northern California to dream and propose of concepts for a sustainable tomorrow. Organized by Soroptimist International of Chico, winners and their schools could receive awards of up to $20,000 in scholarships and cash prizes and be paired with international designers who will interpret the winning ideas. Finished concepts will be displayed in the Spring of 2011, during a showcase event in Chico, one of the nation’s hotbeds of sustainability.

“This contest is a chance for students to express their creative points of view and make a difference for a healthier planet,” said California Dream Week committee member Margaret VanLaanMartin. “It is an opportunity to help fund students’ college education, to introduce them to the creative design process and to expose them to an international cultural experience.”

The contest is open to eleventh and twelfth graders enrolled in public, private or home schooling networks coming from the following Northern California counties: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Modoc, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Francisco, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Trinity, Yolo, Yuba.

To maximize fundraising, California Dream Week is offering a number of sponsorship packages. Businesses from Northern California, individuals, families and those committed to sustainability are encouraged to get involved.

California Dream Week invites students to invent an original, environmentally sustainable design in one of three categories: architecture and interior design, transportation and product compliments. An international jury will select three winners from each category whose work will then be presented as a creative brief to a design professional. From the students’ specifications, the designers will create a new design based on their own interpretation and cultural experiences.

Student submissions can be in any electronic form, including but not limited to drawings, sketches, models, mockups, essays or videos. Online registration and submission is required. Students can submit their ideas to California Dream Week from December 10, 2010 through 5pm March 4, 2011.

“The goal is to help our youth today believe in a sustainable tomorrow,” said Rita Lehr, also from the California Dream Week organizing committee. “By participating in this cultural event, students have an opportunity to see how their dreams can mature and even how they could affect people of other cultures.”

Student scholarships totaling $5250 will be awarded and further cash awards will be donated to the schools of the winning students. In Spring 2011 the amount of school awards will be announced. California Dream Week target goal is to generate an additional $17,000 in cash awards for the schools and no cap or limit has been set on the amount that could be generated.

California Dream Week is a nonprofit 501(c)3 event supported by companies, communities and individuals throughout the world who believe in the need for sustainability, for investing in today's youth and in international cultural awareness. Its 2011 mission is to raise funds for Northern California’s suffering schools and nurture students’ innovative ideas, giving them a chance to believe in a sustainable tomorrow.

Soroptimist International of Chico (SI Chico) is a service organization with a long and distinguished history in the California North State community. Soroptimists are committed to improving the lives of women, children and youth in local communities, in the USA, and around the world. Through local and international projects, Soroptimist International raises funds to support projects locally and globally.

Soroptimist International (SI) is a worldwide organization for women in management and professions working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. Founded in 1921 in Oakland, California, it now has more than 3,000 clubs in 125 countries and territories worldwide.

SOURCE: Soroptimist International

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