Desautels students head to 2015 Hult Prize regionals

On March 13-14, McGill students Amanda Chalupa (MSc in Social & Transcultural Psychiatry), Alyssa Wiseman (MBA-Law), Attiya Hirji (BA in International Development), Lida Faridian (MBA) and Vivien Leung (Law), also known as team MILA, are headed to San Francisco to vie for the US$1 million Hult Prize to launch their social program.

Out of 20,000 applicants, MILA is one of 250 teams selected to participate in regional finals happening in five cities across the globe. Regional winners will go on to a final round of competition hosted by President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. The Hult Prize is about creating innovative solutions that address the world’s most pressing problems that are financially self-sustaining. The 2015 challenge, issued by President Bill Clinton, is about bringing sustainable, high-quality, early childhood education to ten million children under the age of six in urban slums by the year 2020.

Team MILA consists of five passionate women from diverse backgrounds bringing knowledge from psychology, health care, international development, business, law, education, and design. MILA stands for Milestone Achievement Through Play, a unique take on education that is cognizant of the importance of play and exploration in shaping the ability to overcome adulthood challenges. MILA’s strategy capitalizes on local knowledge to empower communities and encourage self-sufficiency.

“A lot of work is done with elementary school kids; young children (0-6) are often forgotten. We have to fix this because positively impacting the early years of these children’s lives will shape how they progress into adulthood,” says MBA-Law student Alyssa Wiseman.

A team of Desautels MBA students won the grand prize in 2013.

Leading up to the competition, the team is looking for new partners, mentors, and opportunities to gain insights on, fine-tune and expand their project. Please feel free to get in touch with team MILA at hello.team.mila [at] gmail.com.