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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO EDUCATION, NATIONAL, AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
The Conrad Foundation and Destination Imagination join forces for the
annual Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge
HOUSTON, April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Nancy Conrad
and Dr. Chuck Cadle announced a significant collaboration between
their respective organizations at the 2014 Conrad Innovation Summit.
The two leading non-profits, the Conrad Foundation (Conrad) and
Destination Imagination (DI) have joined forces to capitalize on the
success of the ConradSpirit of Innovation Challenge (Conrad
Challenge). The ninth Conrad Challenge, a multi-phase business and
technical plan competition,will be launched to high school aged
students in August.
The partnership between Conrad and DI offers the opportunity to
exponentially grow the Conrad Challenge under the more than 30 years
of STEM education experience of the DI team. Through its pre-K through
university level project-based competitive programs, teacher training,
and educator resources, DI prepares students from around the world for
college, careers, and life.
The Conrad Challenge was created by Nancy Conrad, founder of the
Conrad Foundation, to honor the legacy of her husband naval aviator,
NASA astronaut and successful entrepreneur Charles "Pete" Conrad.
"When we created the Spirit of Innovation Challenge I wanted to
provide high school students, regardless of socio-economic background,
the opportunity to 'get their genius on'," said Nancy Conrad, chairman
of the Conrad Foundation. "For the past eight years our students have
innovated incredible new technologies and products to solve global
challenges in areas such as aerospace, energy and the environment,
health and nutrition, and cybersecurity. They learn about all aspects
of entrepreneurship and teamwork. It's the perfect time to partner
with DI on the Conrad Challenge."
Today school systems around the world are looking for standards-based
STEM education programs and this partnership offers viable,
affordable, yet inspiring and fun, programs. As a result, DI and
Conrad will maximize synergies and a common vision to provide
leadership in innovative learning.
"In order to meet the industry demand for an innovation generation and
STEM-ready workforce, students and educators need access to an
affordable and proven project learning methodology," said Dr. Chuck
Cadle, CEO of DI. "This partnership expands the ability of both of our
organizations by offering accessible STEM-learning alternatives that
align with national initiatives such as the President's Educate to
Innovate."
Effective May 1, 2014 DI will take over the day-to-day operation of
the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge. This will include
experienced staff members from the Conrad Foundation joining the DI
team of more than 38,000 volunteers and staff. The Conrad Challenge
team will continue to operate out of Houston under the leadership of
Cadle. This evolution allows the Conrad Foundation to focus on
outreach to industry and research organizations to create new programs
and opportunities to inspire and activate students and teachers to
explore STEM subjects and entrepreneurial opportunities.
About the Conrad Foundation The Conrad Foundation is a 501(c) (3)
non-profit organization dedicated to transformative education
practices, where students use their imagination and innovation to
enrich their classroom studies by adding context to content. Engaging
teams of high school students from 50 states and 72 countries, the
Conrad Foundation uniquely combines education, innovation and
entrepreneurship to inspire solutions for achieving global
sustainability. For more information, visit ConradFoundation.org.
About Destination Imagination Destination Imagination, Inc. is a
501(c) (3) non-profit, volunteer-led, cause-driven organization which
constructs fun and engaging challenges that teach the creative process
from imagination to innovation using inquiry-guided, team-based
learning. More than 200,000 students worldwide participate annually in
the 21st century skills program under the guidance of 38,000
passionate volunteers. DI's annual conference (www.globalfinals.org)
draws more than 16,000 students and supporters to the world's largest
celebration of creativity. To learn more, please call 1.888.321.1503
or visit DestinationImagination.org.
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SOURCE Destination Imagination; Conrad Foundation
-0- 04/07/2014
/CONTACT: Gwen Griffin, Conrad Foundation, gwen@griffincg.com, (281) 300-4681; or Veronica Mikitka Reed, Destination Imagination, vmikitka@mavenagency.com, (215) 434-7194
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140407/DC99576-a
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140407/DC99576LOGO-b
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120510/DC05048LOGO
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
/Web Site: http://www.destinationimagination.org
http://www.conradfoundation.org/
CO: Destination Imagination; Conrad Foundation; Conrad Foundation
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-- DC99576 --
0000 04/07/2014 16:03:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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