The (New Orleans) kids are all right

Catch up quick: 19 New Orleans-area high school teams had weeks this year to present original solutions for one of the city's biggest challenges: climate change, housing access, mental health, food insecurity and gun violence.

• Sarah T. Reed and Travis Hill tied for first, choosing climate change and mental health, respectively.

The big picture: The Aspen Challenge selects different cities to host the annual competition.

• Its director, Katie Fitzgerald, told Axios they picked New Orleans because "it's a city where we've seen a lot of youth activation, where we've seen a lot of movement in the individual school structure and the charter school structure, where there's a belief in youth voice and choice."
• "Those are schools where we just want to add a little extra oomph and provide a platform for young people to elevate their voices."

What they're saying: Sarah T. Reed principal D'Lacie Monk told Axios it offered "time for [students] to be able to dig into the problems of their city and really take control of them."

Travis Hill Schools

These incarcerated students' team, "The Voices Behind the Walls," proposed a mental health-related program comprising biweekly sessions for their parents.

Why it matters: As one student put it in their video presentation: "a program to teach adults how to notice and identify mental health issues in their kids and others."

Details: Their proposed "Ladder to Success" program would include one session a week just for parents of incarcerated youth, and one with both parents and their child — including child care for younger siblings.

• It's a "holistic approach," said Shanell Dowling, the principal of Travis Hill who represented her students in Aspen.
• Students proposed session topics ranging from more traditional therapy and counseling, help with grief and trauma and building better parent/child relationships to guidance for parents on getting a GED, financial literacy and getting a better-paying job.
• "Trauma-informed education is a journey, not a checklist. ... There is no magical program that is going to fix kids, because we are not fixing kids. We are supporting kids in being successful," another student said in their presentation, quoting Nashville principal Mathew Portell.

The big picture: Dowling said her students were proposing a way to address "needs that have yet to be met for students in the city of New Orleans."

• And along the way, "they were vulnerable to share their lived experience," she told Axios.

• "That in and of itself is an indicator of what's possible," she said. "You have students that some people have written off. But they're still showing growth, they're still showing progress, they're still showing achievement."

What's next: Dowling has hope for implementation of the proposal, though it's going to take "all hands on deck" and "investments from a lot of people."

• But it's "doable," she said.

Sarah T. Reed

The school's winning project, RE2ED, focused on climate change, plastic waste and recycling education.

Why it matters: The students have experienced climate change firsthand at their Village de l'Est campus, as they said in their presentation: "Our [sports] practices are often canceled and our [music] performances are often scratched due to rapid weather change. That's why we decided to take this challenge."

Details: As they pointed out, the city's famous events like Mardi Gras often leave behind a trail of plastic waste — including its iconic beads. And yet New Orleans has struggled to consistently offer curbside recycling.

• For $5,000 per school, the students proposed executing recycling programs at area schools. They'd collect plastic in "Learning Hub" bins featuring QR codes that educate about recycling.
• They proposed delivering the waste to businesses that upcycle plastic — and host drop-off days at participating schools, too.
• The students have already made an impact on principal Monk, encouraging her to recycle more, she told Axios.

What's next: Sarah T. Reed teacher Brandon Bailey said the students will together a one-document plan to help other schools become "Resource Centers."

• They hope that ultimately it will "put pressure on policy and decision-makers in New Orleans, because we're doing our part," Bailey said.