AI-Use Confirmation
1
Age
11
Contact Phone Number
+1 816-844-0808
Are you an "Ashoka Young Changemaker" or a a certified "Youth Venturer"??
No
I know who I am, I feel like I belong.
10
I believe I can do things to make my community better.
10
I think of myself as a "civic leader" who works to make my community better.
10
I believe I can be a leader.
10
I can get my friends, family and/or other people around me to help with a project or cause I care about.
10
Changemaker Pronouns
She/Her
I see myself as someone who takes action to make my community better.
10
I understand what other people in my community are going through, even if their lives are different from mine.
10
Needs consent
Yes
Consent received
Yes
Country of Residence
United States
Where do you live in:
Suburban Community
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
Our reading month helps kids with lots of topics, some of them are, creativity, arts, education and learning, storytelling, media, and many, many more! And it helps kids want to read at home, and at school (At appropriate hours). This all started when we wanted everyone in our school to be able to read and to enjoy reading! We wanted every kid to want to read from different varieties and try new books, so encouraging them would help, we are going to set up the best way to encourage kids to read and to make sure they all have book access by, a get caught reading month, this will help kids want to read and help them expand their book collection, resulting in more reading and for more reading we would need more and better varieties of books, and fun books to catch kids eyes, so anything will help!
Have you ever entered a previous Ashoka challenge?
No
How did you hear about this challenge?
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We want other people to join our project because we can use all the help we can get with helping kids in our school. We also really want every kid in our school to know that we are helping them, and how good reading is for their brain, and to read more! We want to send home slips about how reading is good, and to get caught reading! It's so good for you, and every kid (and adult) in our school should know that!
How many people are on your team?
5
I confirm that the applicant is between 5 and 20 years old on January 31, 2027 (the application deadline).
Yes
I am not an employee of Ashoka, or an immediate family member of an Ashoka employee.
Yes
I am not an employee of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, or an immediate family member of an employee of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.
Yes
I live in the United States (US) or a U.S. Territory, South Africa (ZA), Nigeria (NG) or Kenya (KE).
Yes
I understand that if the applicant is under 13 (United States or U.S. Territory) or under 18 (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa) at the time of submission, a parent or legal guardian must give consent before this application can be considered.
Yes
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Our impact is going to look like happier kids, because they will find good books, find series they like, or just read more chapter books or picture books, anything. But unfortunately we don’t have the power right now to give every kid in our school a book they like, we need to make sure that every kid loves reading, and we can give them books to like, and so we can start with a big reading month, and new books, but because we might not be able to give kids, parents books they like a nice book, so that's why we are writing this, so we can give kids good education.
Full Name
Amber Nieznajko
Phone Number
+1 816-844-0808
Relationship to Applicant
Teacher
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
This project helps kids to get diverse books. Thanks to the first book, all of our books range from picture books to chapter books and much more, so all kids from different ages can read, and enjoy books!
Project title
Reading Rocks!
Full Name
Amber Nieznajko
Phone Number
18168440808
Relationship to Applicant
Teacher
Full Name
Sarah Brown
Phone Number
+1(314)518-6069
Relationship to Applicant
Parent
Full Name
Aaron Brown
Phone Number
+1(816)729-4220
Relationship to Applicant
Parent
Referral: If you discovered the Challenge thanks to an organization or person other than Ashoka or the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, who was it?
School Grade
5th
School Name
Tiffany Ridge Elementary
SMS Opt-In
1
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
This project will help kids want to read and that helps with keeping more kids smart and a bigger creative mind! And for school to feel more engaging, this helps our community because when everybody can read, everybody can understand each other, that is why the reading month would be helpful to our school community.
This is a youth-led project – this initiative is led by someone aged 20 or younger.
Yes
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Our plans throughout the year is to strengthen the reading levels in our school community. If we give out books to our kids' and they use them and read them to their family, our school kids' reading levels will spike up! We are going to tell kids about reading month! On the announcements and with flyers,we will spread the news, and making it sound so fun (because it is) and giving teachers slips and asking them to tell kids about getting caught reading this month!
Whose phone number is this?
another_adult
Date of Birth
2015-07-11
First Name
Romi
Last Name
Brown
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Our project is different from others because it is an educational project, kids are affected by reading, but not every kid in our school has a book,because even though we have a library, they don't get to keep a book for a longer extended time, and book fair books cost money, and some families can't afford, so we are trying to change that. Also the funding isn’t 100% that that can happen, but our get caught reading month can help with that, so every kid in our school can win a book, and don't have to pay!
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
We are solving this problem by giving out prizes (books) if the teachers find their students reading! This results in kids wanting to read more and longer, and it is engaging at the same exact time! And maybe inspire them to write their own! Or be an illustrator, reading can change a lot!
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
We are a team together, and the roles we play are all important to the kids of our school. We work as a team smoothly and efficiently,by helping the kids get better education, we all share leadership by giving each other credit for everything, even the kids! But why kids? Because they got caught reading! And throughout everything we did and will work together!
