Local Students Win Social Innovation Contest

At Washington D.C.'s George Washington University, Junior Achievement USA® (JA) selected team “Rain Drain,” a group of teen entrepreneurs from Atlanta and Los Angeles, as winners of the JA Social Innovation Intensive, presented by AT&T. The team included students from Northview and Milton high schools.

Rain Drain was selected from 15 competing student teams comprised of 75 high school students representing JA operations from across the country. The Intensive was one track making up the JA National Student Leadership Summit, which took place from July 30 through Aug. 3 in the nation’s capital.

The JA Social Innovation Intensive is a three-day competition in which student teams devise a societal challenge for which they must create an innovative business solution. During the intensive, the student teams work with AT&T volunteer mentors, who provide coaching around the creation of a viable solution to the chosen social issue.

“Equipping our students to graduate ready for the workforce is an important issue for students, and our country,” said Sylvia Russell, president-AT&T Georgia. “AT&T is committed to using technology to connect with students in new and effective ways so they can learn work-life skills and explore real world business problems.” 

The teams were tasked with tackling a social problem that was important to them. The winning team, Rain Drain, proposed using rainwater instead of purified water for toilets. Their idea was to elevate a tank outside of houses and businesses in order to use gravity to bring water to toilets. Their idea would potentially save a family 44 percent in utility costs, and would reduce use of fossil fuels. Additionally, as a philanthropic aspect to the company, for every 25 toilets installed, Rain Drain would install a water pump in an impoverished community in Africa that lacked access to clean water. 

Rain Drain’s team members are: Ayomide Awe from Mount Vernon Presbyterian High School in Atlanta; Sara Hojjatie from Milton High School in Milton, Georgia; Namita Money from in Johns Creek; Brunna De Oliveira from Wheeler High School in Marietta; and Cameron Villadiego from Chaminade High School in West Hills, Calif.

The key student learning objectives of the intensive are to stimulate innovation, encourage teamwork and collaboration to tackle problems, provide students with access to mentoring by AT&T to foster understanding around how businesses solve challenges, and to motivate students to excel academically and professionally.

“Junior Achievement of Georgia is proud of our JA Fellows members who were selected to attend the JA National Student Leadership Summit,” said Jack Harris, president of Junior Achievement of Georgia. “Thanks to the continued partnerships with companies like AT&T, Junior Achievement is able to provide more young people with opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills vital to achieving their future economic success."

Students partnered with AT&T advisors to develop concept papers and live presentations about their solutions. Teams then presented their recommendations to two successive judging panels of AT&T employees.

The awards were presented at a gala event in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hall of Flags and were the culmination of the five-day summit.