As the largest country in Latin America, quality and equity in education remain crucial challenges in Brazil, where the focus on youth education garners more attention. By embracing new ideas from young minds across Brazil, we can open up more possibilities as future generations have significant opportunities at their fingertips - ready to be chosen and realized.
Our Ribeirão Preto Chapter is working to solve this challenge as their Impact Project under SDG #4: Quality Education. Their program, known as "Jovem Exponencial," aims to bring the power of an exponential mindset to the youth of Ribeirão Preto and beyond. By doing so, they hope to inspire youth to tackle major problems that lay ahead in their local community and expose them to new career paths that exponential and emerging technologies can provide.
In phase one of their project, the Chapter surveyed local youth, with over 1,000 survey responses, and discovered that 60% of respondents did not work. It also revealed that they see their futures containing family, health, travel, and a strong desire to "do something extremely relevant to the world, with a socio-environmental impact." However, societal and economic issues and a need for proper education around what skills and opportunities are needed prevent this future from being realized for many. Our Ribeirão Preto Chapter is working to support these students to continue their education. As a result, the Chapter will directly impact the community and the world by producing new leaders with a unique perspective and way of thinking that can contribute to finding, creating, or supporting initiatives that can solve the UN SDGs.
In phase two, the Chapter worked with 120 students from a local high school in a youth immersion experience to help them unlock new possibilities professionally by taking them from a linear to an exponential mindset. They accomplished this via lectures, think tanks, mentorships, fairs, exercises for developing literacy skills for the future and technological trends needed for this next generation to excel when facing the challenges and opportunities of today's world. In addition, they helped break down the cultural differences between generations in relation to new professions such as those in esports, game development, etc., focusing on how interested young people can approach these new and increasingly relevant careers. Finally, the Chapter also provided the students with the tools and skill sets needed to help them succeed in their future careers. Brazil's educational impact has the potential to be echoed across the world as it trailblazes the way into the future as a country of diverse cities, cultures, and entrepreneurial ventures.
Education remains one of the best avenues for change, and continued education can increase the chances of a better professional future for both youth in Brazil and younger generations worldwide.
Looking to get involved in our Ribeirão Preto Chapter or find a Chapter in your city? Contact us at community@su.org or visit su.org/chapters to learn more about how you can make an impact.