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President's Engagement Prizes

Hope and help for wrongfully incarcerated Pennsylvanians
Three women wearing face masks and office dress clothes stand on a pathway with a tree full of pink flowers behind them

Carson Eckhard (left), Sarah Simon (center) and Natalia Rommen (right) won the President's Engagement Prize for Project HOPE.

Hope and help for wrongfully incarcerated Pennsylvanians

With Project HOPE, President’s Engagement Prize winners Carson Eckhard, Natalia Rommen, and Sarah Simon will address the lack of support to wrongfully incarcerated people in Philadelphia and across the state.

Kristen de Groot

Empowering refugee communities with access to clean water
Leah Voytovich and Martin Leet in front of college hall while wearing masks

Empowering refugee communities with access to clean water

With project Maji, seniors Martin Leet and Leah Voytovich will use their President’s Engagement Prize to install a solar-powered water tank and provide agricultural and first aid training for members of the Olua I community.

Erica K. Brockmeier

A pivot, from financial literacy to restorative justice
Mckayla Warwick and Kwaku Owusu wear face masks while walking down a street in West Philadelphia.

A pivot, from financial literacy to restorative justice

Collective Climb won a 2020 President’s Engagement Prize as a West Philadelphia-based financial literacy project, but shifted their focus to engage with young people around the issue of community violence.

Kristina García

Increasing access to life-saving, unused medicines in India
medication lines in india People wait in line at the pharmacy purchase point, at which medicines can be purchased by anyone.

Increasing access to life-saving, unused medicines in India

Aarogya, a social-enterprise organization, is led by three President’s Engagement Prize winners. Since receiving the award, they’ve started delivering otherwise-unused medicines that save lives and money.
The impact of providing hands-on, interactive projects
hand using a circuit board

The impact of providing hands-on, interactive projects

With inventXYZ, President’s Innovation Prize winner Nikil Ragav has created a high-tech curriculum for high school to motivate future problem-solvers.

Dee Patel

The joy and power of improvisation
unscripted group in front of college hall

The joy and power of improvisation

With The Unscripted Project, President’s Engagement Prize winners Philip Chen and Meera Menon create an improv curriculum and bring teaching artists to Philadelphia public school students.
A ‘Collective Climb’ to combat poverty
Three side-by-side portraits of Penn students

From left to right: Hyungtae Kim, Mckayla Warwick, and Kwaku Owusu.

A ‘Collective Climb’ to combat poverty

With the President’s Engagement Prize, seniors Hyungtae Kim, Kwaku Owusu, and Mckayla Warwick will work to combat poverty in West Philadelphia through education, shared resources, and community collaboration.

Kristina García