USD Magazine Spring 2026

AT THE EDGE OF IT ALL

Empowering Teens From Across the Globe to Solve Some of Humanity’s Most Urgent Challenges Rooted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge empowers students from more than 40 countries, including Nigeria, Nepal and Mexico, to solve local problems. One of the many goals of the program is to level the playing field and support what Ashley Ahrens-Víquez ’17 (BA), co-project manager of the challenge, refers to as the lost Einsteins, innovators with world-changing ideas. By offering tools without being prescriptive, the challenge allows students to define what their own communities need. To do so, participants utilize the Pactful design thinking framework across four phases: understanding (research and empathy), ideation, prototyping and a five-minute video presentation. This process has produced inventions

“I’m really interested in the empowerment that education brings to the individual and also what it means to educate folks that may not have the same cultural

background.” — Ashley Ahrens-Víquez

TEEN INNOVATION Imagine a high school student creating solutions for global challenges like hunger or pollution and testing them on a global stage. This is the mission of the Jacobs Teen Innovation Challenge, a free, virtual initiative from the University of San Diego’s Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education. Co-Project Manager Ashley Ahrens Víquez stopped by the University of San Diego’s At the Edge of It All podcast to promote the annual competition, entering its seventh year.

such as plastic-eating larvae, the Lunara athlete headband designed to help athletes track their menstrual cycles and No Needle, a finger monitor that uses infrared light to measure blood glucose levels without needles. Beyond technical skills, the challenge builds essential collaboration and communication expertise. The ultimate goal is agency, as Ahrens

Víquez notes; students leave feeling they “can make a difference” and possess the tools to change the world. By providing opportunities for innovation to those who may not have access to them, the challenge validates student passion and transforms educational trajectories. — Lissette Martinez ’03 (BA)

At the Edge of It All is a University of San Diego podcast where USD experts speak on topics and stories that impact you and the broader community.

Download episodes wherever you get your podcasts or visit sandiego.edu/at-the-edge .

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