Regional S!NERGY
The Regional S!NERGY competition was held online on January 16, 2021. Four groups from the USA and Canada presented their projects to a panel of judges and live audience watching the live stream. Both judges and audience members voted for the competition. The grant prizes for this regional competition was $1,000 for 1st place and $500 for 2nd place. Thanks to one of the event’s judges, the 3rd and 4th place honorable mentions both received $250 each from Women’s Federation for World Peace International in New York.
The event was co-hosted by International Association of Youth and Students for Peace USA and Canada (IAYSP) and Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP). All the presentations were graded by the judges on the categories of content and delivery. The audience also voted for their favorite presentation through an online platform and both points and numbers were combined for the final results.
1st Place: Arrêter ExploitationHub
Presented by Rafaela and Tabitha Wilson, these two young women from Montreal, Canada are tackling the issue of underage and unconsented exploitation of girls and women and are working to bring awareness and legal regulation for videos uploaded onto Mind Geek’s Porn Hub site.
2nd Place: Hyojeong Conference
Representing his college organization, CARP (Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles) Kodai Abe from California, USA presented their project on creating awareness and support among youth in the United States and South Korea for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
3rd Place: Dinner Table Talk
Created by Soonmee Iwasaki from Pennsylvania and Stephanie Dias from New York in the USA, this team presented their plan to create a podcast that will provide accurate, informative and inspiring news to the young demographic that use social media as their main source of news of the world.
4th Place: Through Their Eyes
This Student Society McGill University affiliated club is led by 3 students in Canada: Mariam Ali from Calgary, Sana Argawal from Montreal, and Tad Wu from Windsor. Their group focuses on awareness and raising funds to support orphans and nonprofits that address the needs of orphans and families that feel the need to give their child up to an orphanage due to extenuating circumstances.
Guest Judges
Ms. Tarina Kaur Ahuja
Mr. Mark Boitano
Mrs. Alexa Fish Ward
For this Regional competition there were three guest judges: Ms. Tarian Kaur Ahuja, Co-founder of the nonprofits “Young Khalsa Girls” and “The Greater Good Initiative” as well as the 2020 Youth Heroes’ Awards Recipient; Mr. Mark Boitano, former Senator of New Mexico; and Mrs. Alexa Fish Ward, Vice President and CAO of Women’s Federation for World Peace International in New York (WFWPI) and Director of their UN Relations Office. The judges asked practical questions pertaining to each project and gave heartfelt encouragement to the young presenters.
President’s Volunteer Service Award 2020
IAYSP USA is a certified organization to give the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA). In the year of 2020, one of IAYSP USA’s members contributed more than 250 hours of service to her community and was recognized with the Gold Award. 17 year old Angela Mao from Long Island volunteered her time with helping “One Community Global” as an online researcher for sustainable methods and best practices, and the “Wildlife Conservation Society” as a volunteer Discovery Guide and leader for the New York Aquarium. She was also a presenter for our USA S!NERGY event in December and won the 3rd place project grant with her Rainwater Harvesting proposal.
Click HERE to watch the event recording!