A diverse collection of students with big ideas will split about $95,000 in prize money after competing in T-Mobile’s Changemaker Challenge. $5-10K may not sound like a lot to companies pulling in tens of millions, but for a kid just starting out, it could be the difference between pursuing and abandoning a passion project.

The contest is nationwide, asking young folks age 13-18 to submit their project, company, or however they like to define it, and five each in three categories are awarded $5,000. A winner from each category gets an additional $5K plus a pitch-off with T-Mo brass, and a chance for a final $5K check. You’d think they would throw another five large out there to hit $100K even… maybe next year.

There are plenty such competitions out there (last week was Microsoft’s Imagine Cup) and the ideas that surface in them are always refreshingly human in scale and intention.

Take the finalist MedTechConnect, for instance. Sounds like middleware for hospitals, but it’s two teenage cousins in Louisville who have now helped over 2,000 senior citizens make vaccination and other healthcare appointments by walking them through the digital processes that might otherwise have puzzled them.

“Telehealth access is a basic human right. Solutions must be found, as telehealth will explode in the future… vulnerable people cannot be left behind,” they write. And they’re helping in a very hands-on way — volunteer work for the digital era, perhaps, but also just plain a good idea: a general “tech support for telehealth” for people who don’t have a savvy niece or nephew to consult on such things.

Just because folks like Jacqueline and Amelie aren’t yet quite at the Battlefield stage doesn’t mean we can’t applaud their initiative and insight. They do have one thing in common with many larger startups, however: a total lack of any plan for monetization. In this case however, that is probably a good thing.

Here’s the full list of finalists, by category with winners listed first (descriptions from T-Mo and the applicants themselves, links to their sweet little applications):

“Digital empowerment”:

• Safe Teens Online (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) A global, youth-led peer-to-peer initiative that educates teenagers on online privacy and safety, encouraging inclusivity, safe habits, and emotional well-being.
• Bridge the Gap Initiative (North Royalton, Ohio) A student-run organization designed to help senior citizens navigate the digital world by teaching them valuable skills like texting and video calling using their smart phones.
• STEM for the South Bronx (Bronx, N.Y.) A high school robotics team with a vision to create an education center that is open to the public to explore the world of STEM.
• Scholars Program (Fairfax, Va.) An organization whose goal is to expand STEM education and STEM opportunities for minority groups underrepresented in the field.
• MedTechConnect (Louisville, Ky.) A group working to provide technical and personal support to ensure senior citizens are informed about and have access to vaccinations and basic healthcare …read more

  https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/31/student-social-good-startups-collect-95k-in-t-mobile-competition/