• PAST SESL NH HIGH SCHOOL PARTICIPANTS
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2009
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2008
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2007
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2006
• PAST SESL NH COLLEGE PARTICIPANTS
  • SESL NH College Challenge 2009

The four high school girls who comprised Team Hope for Success found their way to OdysseyNH Recovery Academy for various reasons, but they all had one thing in common: they were students who'd lost their way and had strayed into a place we all hope our kids never visit. They'd had issues with drugs and alcohol, and in their own words, "had never won anything, not even a good attendance award."

At the 2008 Social Entrepreneurial Student Challenge for High School Students (SESL-HS), Team Hope for Success found a place to call home and a reason to be proud. Their project, which took the Most Potential Impact Award, involved telling their personal stories of how they fell into drug and alcohol abuse to high school crowds across the state in hopes that they might prevent others from following the same path. By participating in the SESL program, these self-described outcasts received the self-confidence and validation necessary to continue to stay clean and excel in their own school environment, and the inspiration that their ideas and hard work can make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.

Winner of the 3rd Place SESL-HS 2006, 2007, and 2009 award, the Merrimack BioDiesel Team, has addressed various issues making national headlines, one of which is our nation's energy reliance on foreign oil juxtaposed with the desire to lessen our impact on the environment. Since competing in the 2006 SESL Challenge, Merrimack BioDiesel has been awarded over $35,000 in grants and 5 donated school buses, which they converted to run on biodiesel saving the school district $40,000. The team presented at a national energy conference, and many of their former members are currently attending Ivy League colleges, thanks in part to discussions with school representatives about SESL and their project.

Winner of the Rising Star Award in SESL-HS 2006, Team Just Like Us, a team of five freshmen, focused on creating a more accepting environment for the disabled and special needs students at their school. Through collective student outings, an awareness campaign, and monthly socials, JLU students have broken down the barriers they once saw between "normal" students and disabled students. The team is now a club of over 120 students, whose passion to create a more inclusive school culture has inspired the support and pride of the Derry community, and has been featured in local newspapers on several occasions.

UNH Manchester's Warmth from the Millyard's (WFMY) 1st Place award in the 2009 inaugural SESL-College Challenge became a launching pad for an exciting 2009-2010 academic year. One of the biggest challenges the WFMY project faces now is managing its success and the many opportunities made possible thanks to the SESL experience. The WFMY planning group has been interviewed by New Hampshire Public Radio and meets regularly with community partners, community leaders, faculty, and students to plan each year's warm clothing drive. The project has attracted the attention of the college's sustainability course faculty and a cross-marketing effort is emerging. Operationally, the biggest boost to the project has come from community members who learned about the project through the SESL challenge. These members opened the door to numerous community resources and still developing partnerships.

These are only some of the many success stories along the spectrum serviced by the Social Entrepreneurial Student Leadership program and its annual SESL Challenge, but they showcase exactly why the program has become so vital to the New Hampshire community: for the first time, high school and college students from all walks of life, all types of learning styles, and all levels of academic achievement are being engaged in a real-world, student-led and student-driven experiential learning platform that is allowing them to, in Gandhi's words, "be the change they want to see in the world." Anecdotally speaking, we see students re-engaging themselves in the educational process and translating classroom learning into real world action that empowers them to realize we can solve social challenges, one team, one school, and one community at a time.

• PAST SESL NH HIGH SCHOOL PARTICIPANTS
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2009
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2008
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2007
  • SESL NH High School Challenge 2006
• PAST SESL NH COLLEGE PARTICIPANTS
  • SESL NH College Challenge 2009

PAST SESL NH HIGH SCHOOL PARTICIPANTS

• First Place with $1,000 scholarship: Project Tundrific from Milford High School
• Second Place with $600 scholarship: Newfound Reaches Out from Newfound Regional High School
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: Merrimack Biodiesel Crew from Merrimack High School

• The Great Nor'Easters from Colebrook Academy
• REcreation for RECreation from Pinkerton Academy
• HST from Pinkerton Academy
• Merrimack Biodiesel Crew from Merrimack High School
• Project Tundrific from Milford High Schoo
l
• Newfound Reaches Out from Newfound Regional High School

• Yes You Can Award – The Green Scene, Pelham High School
• Compassion Award – HST, Pinkerton Academy
• Heartfelt Award – Newfound Reaches Out, Newfound Regional High School
• Sharpest Business Sense Award – Project Tundrific, Milford High School
• Grip on Reality Award – Merrimack Biodiesel Crew, Merrimack High School

• First Place with $1,000 scholarship: Team Reality Check from Nashua High South
• Second Place with $600 scholarship: The Great Nor'Easters from Colebrook Academy
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: Team Nutrition Ambition from Nashua High North

• The Great Nor'Easters from Colebrook Academy
• Pittsburg Interpretive Center from Pittsburg High School
• The Waste Watchers from Stevens High School
• Nutrition Ambition from Nashua High North
• Determination for Integration from Pinkerton Academy
• Reality Check from Nashua High South
• Operation REC from Sanborn Regional High School

• Fortitude Award went to Team Waste Watchers, Stevens High School
• Most Creative Use of Video went to Team Operation Rec, Sanborn Regional High School

• The Humanitarian Award to H3 – Happy Healthy Hearts, Newfound Regional High School
• Heart and Soul Award to Littleton FCCLA Fitness Challenge, Littleton High School
• Most Potential Impact to Hope for Success, Odyssey NH Academy
• Excellence in Community Partnerships to Operation Oval, MIlford High School Project
• Best Marketing/Promotion Plan to- PAVE (Pinkerton Academy Volunteer
• Enhancement), Pinkerton Academy
• Rising Star Award to HELP (Hillsboro Environmental Labor Personnel), Hillsboro-Deering High School

• First Place with $1,000 scholarship: Team Mission Middle East from Pinkerton Academy Second Place with $600 scholarship: The Pinkerton team PAHL—Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle.
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: Merrimack Biodiesesl from Merrimack High School.
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: A Birthday Wish from Souhegan Valley High School.

• Plymouth High School team's LEAD—Literacy Education for Adolescence Development received an award for Excellence in Community Partnerships.
• Oyster River High School's team Volunteer Honduras received the International Humanitarian Award.
• Winnisquam Regional High School's Project UNITY—Unifying Neighbors, Integrating Today's Youth received an award for Excellence in Community Impact.

• First Place with $1,000 scholarship: The Konstant's Crew from Pinkerton Academy
• Second Place with $600 scholarship: Team Chance (Community Helpers Advancing Neighborhood Conditions Everywhere) from Stevens High School
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: Merrimack Biodiesesl from Merrimack High School
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: Helping Hands from Keene High School

• Team A² from Jaffrey Rindge High School won the Heart and Soul Award
• Team Boost from Laconia High School won the Promotion and Marketing Award
• Team JLU (Just Like Us) from Pinkerton Academy won the Rising Star Award

PAST SESL NH COLLEGE PARTICIPANTS

• First Place with $1,000 scholarship: Warmth from the Millyard from UNH, Manchester
• Second Place with $600 scholarship: The Green Team, UNH, WSBE
• Third Place with $300 scholarship: Looking Up, UNH, Durham

• Building Blocks from Keene State College
• Campus Collectors from UNH Durham
• Warmth from the Millyard from UNH, Manchester
• The Green Team, UNH, WSBE
• Looking Up, UNH, Durham