Dream Blog
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Unleashing the Voices of the Future: Dream Tank’s New ‘EmpowerGen’ Column and Partnerships
Co-authored by Dream Tank founder Heidi Cuppari and contributed by insightful teens and young adults, this column aims to revolutionize the dialogue surrounding the state of today’s youth. Joining this transformative initiative as a contributing editor and production assistant, we’re proud to welcome Summer Cuppari Gould. A recent graduate of Fairview High School in Boulder and a soon-to-be freshman at the University of Colorado Leeds Business School, Summer has been a changemaker since the tender age of 7, helping her mom Heidi to create and launch Dream Tank, and serving as a youth climate delegate at the United Nations.
“EmpowerGen” is more than a column. It’s a dynamic platform where youth can confidently express their thoughts, ideas, and hopes for the future. Our goal is to underscore the message: “You Have A Voice.” We want to show the world the power of youth, the hope they embody, and the creativity they wield.
But we’re not just launching a new column, we’re also proud to announce our collaboration with PeaceJam and their Billion Acts of Peace initiative. PeaceJam is an international education program that connects youth with Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, inspiring them to create positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world. The Billion Acts of Peace initiative is a global citizen’s movement intended to tackle the most critical problems facing our planet.
We believe that by teaming up with PeaceJam and their Billion Acts of Peace initiative, we can strengthen our mission and extend our reach, inspiring and supporting more young people to become the changemakers of tomorrow. With these partnerships, we are poised to further Dream Tank’s mission: to ignite the next generation through entrepreneurship and design thinking.
We’re delighted to share the first issue of “EmpowerGen: Amplifying the Voice of the Future” and invite you to join us, along with Heidi and Summer, on this exciting journey of mentoring, empowering, and shaping tomorrow’s leaders. Because at Dream Tank, we’re not just dreaming, we’re doing. And with your support, there’s no limit to what we can achieve together.
Visionary Networking: Collective Impact for a Sustainable Colorado
“Visionary Networking: Unleashing Collective Impact for a Sustainable Colorado with Dream Tank, Good Business Colorado, and PeaceJam”
June 1, 2023
Boulder, CO – Yellow Barn Farm
Join Dream Tank, Good Business Colorado, and PeaceJam for an inspiring and interactive networking event on June 1, 2023 in Boulder, Colorado, designed to unite leaders, entrepreneurial parents, and visionaries dedicated to creating a more sustainable and socially impactful future for the front range of Colorado and beyond.
At this unique gathering co-hosted by three powerful organizations, we invite you to engage in meaningful conversations and expand your network while exploring the question: “What’s possible when a group of playful, powerful, and ‘mountain-moving’ leaders come together to dream a collective vision, inspiring extraordinary collaborations?”
The evening will kick off with free time networking, accompanied by a guiding question to encourage thoughtful connections among guests. Following this, Dream Tank will lead a dynamic 20-minute facilitated session on “Future Forward Visioning for a Sustainable Colorado,” tapping into the innovative and limitless potential of a “dream big” and “think like a kid” mindset.
Through this collaboration, Dream Tank brings its expertise in empowering the next generation of changemakers, Good Business Colorado contributes its commitment to promoting sustainable and responsible business practices, and PeaceJam adds its experience in fostering youth leadership for peace and social justice.
By attending this event, you will:
- Connect with like-minded individuals from the networks of Dream Tank, Good Business Colorado, and PeaceJam
- Participate in a thought-provoking and collaborative discussion on the future of sustainability in Colorado
- Spark ideas and forge partnerships to advance shared missions across sectors
Together, let’s harness the power of our collective intelligence and creativity to envision and build a brighter, more sustainable future for Colorado. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of an extraordinary movement – reserve your spot today!
Second Annual Brown University Student Winternship
Recently, our team had the opportunity to work with a group of talented Brown University students on a two-week ‘winternship’ sprint to explore gamification in education. Our goal for the sprint was to develop a prototype for a gamified metaverse that could help to engage, motivate students to learn and help solve world problems using the framework of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. We knew that we had a talented team of students to work with, and we were excited to see what they could come up with.
The Winternship is sponsored by Brown’s Career Center in the Careers for the Common Good (Careers in the Common Good | CareerLAB (brown.edu) department and is the second annual program where Brown funded internship spots for students to be able to come work with us during their winter break.
The sprint began with a “Dreamstorming”session where we discussed different ideas for the metaverse and how we can tokenize the game. We encouraged the students to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions that would engage players and make learning more fun. Over the next few days, the students worked tirelessly to develop their ideas and create a prototype.
One group developed a prototype of the metaverse that allowed students to explore the various aspects they could include in the metaverse such as avatar / costume design and other elements that translate to learning about and accessing survival tools to prepare for climate and other disasters. Another group worked on tokenization of the metaverse to help fund the best ideas to accept into our 3 month Dream Tank accelerator in Baja, Mexico.
The energy in the room was contagious as the students worked on their projects. They were constantly bouncing ideas off of each other, refining their designs, and testing out new features. We were amazed by their enthusiasm and their ability to work together as a team.
At the end of the two-week sprint, the students presented their prototypes to the team. The audience was impressed by the quality of their work and the creativity that they brought to the table.
Overall, our experience working with the Brown University students was rewarding and enjoyed helping unleash their energy, creativity, and passion for a new form of education in action. It was a great reminder that the next generation of innovators is full of brilliant minds and that there are many exciting developments on the horizon for gamification. We are excited to see where these students’ careers will take them, and we feel lucky to have been a part of their journey.
CALL TO ACTION:
- 🆒 Join our DAO – use this form for the following three interests. Upon receiving the form, we will send you an invite to our Discord, onboarding info and set up a call to connect 1:1 and explore what exponential opportunities we have together!
- Indicate your interest in investing / DREAMS / EXOS tokens
- Indicate your interest in helping with the Buy 1 Give 1 Survival Kit Business Model & Partnerships
- Offer additional feedback, resources, ideas and more to the student
2. 🎤 Subscribe to our new podcast – The first episode is published; the first five will highlight the youth from this program.
- Podcast website with Youtube, Spotify, and other podcast platforms
- Direct link to Episode 1, featuring Yabeke Zike, Team lead: 📸Video 🎤 Audio on Spotify
3. 🐬 Land cooperative development & ownership opportunity on the Sea of Cortez in Baja
- Follow & Join our journey to build a land-based Dream Tank / Island17 “Mission Control” school & eco village resort on Patreon.
Watch the DEMO DAY Replay here: Island17 Winternship 2023 Full Edit
Review the DEMO DAY presentation deck here: DECK
Gameplay – The New Frontier in Shaping Our Future
Author: Valeria Graziani
Original Post: Singularity Group Blog
We are proud to repost a recent blog on the Singularity Group website about our development of a youth-led metaverse to address the SDGs:
Our future will always flourish if our youth have the resources and the space to step into their potential as world leaders. Our young people are the world’s most abundant global resource, yet the most underdeveloped and underrepresented. Our San Diego chapter is working to change that. A world that believes in their youth and gives them every opportunity to explore, discover, imagine and create has already won the future. Our world has enormous untapped potential and too much talent for our future to stay stagnant. Our San Diego Chapter, in collaboration with Dream Tank, and sponsored by ExO Angels, realizes the power in our youth and is giving them real-world learning opportunities. These opportunities engage them as core design contributors and lets their imagination, passion, creativity and energy run free in Island17.io. Island17.io is a new metaverse game created as a global youth social, entrepreneurial and problem-solving ecosystem.
“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Tech hotbeds are filled with opportunities for innovative ideas, and San Diego is steadily rising in the tech scene. It is the 7th best city for tech startups in the USA, hosting over 100 AI unicorns and the 6th-fastest growing technology job market. So it’s no surprise that our San Diego chapter is riding the wave as they partner with Dream Tank to aim their efforts at garnering tech interest for our younger generations. Youth at Dream Tank created Island17.io as a fun and interactive community-owned and led web3 gaming metaverse to invite young innovators to join and lead the design and development of the game to learn the art of coding.
The act of gaming can break down barriers and make the most out of a young mind by encouraging problem-solving and nurturing the imagination. By leveraging the power of gaming, youth innovation, blockchain, deFi, AI and more, Island17 players go on tiered-style missions and earn tokens through skilled gameplay and contributions to the ecosystem. But what makes Island17 different from more traditional games? To start, it is youth-led and inspires social entrepreneurship. The platform uses the power of technology, the excitement of gaming, the spirit of entrepreneurship and a youth-centered design to help our young people find innovative solutions to problems in their local communities. They then can share ideas and collaborate on a global scale in the Island17 Metaverse to address the biggest challenges facing our world in real-time. In addition, it’s a blockchain economic design that rewards players for their contributions to the Metaverse – or ecosystem.
With the project already turning heads, Island17 Fellowships are inviting youth from around the world to join in on this mind-opening experience for 3-months. The platform will allow them to co-create a Metaverse game from the ground up while working to make the world a better place for our collective future. It will also help them develop the skills for their interests, including coding, 3d animation, entrepreneurship training, marketing and social media influencing, music & film production, etc. As we progressively move into a completely tech-centered world, interest in skills surrounding tech development and innovation becomes more valuable. Our young people have a fresh perspective on this digital age, especially when trying to figure out technology’s role in solving the world’s greatest problems. It is now a prime outlet to grab hold of to create the future we want.
Through this exciting venture, the work of our San Diego Chapter, Dream Tank and their collaborations with the work of youth developers and organizations (business, government, academia, etc.) will be funded, championed, and implemented to address and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the globe. We cannot meet the SDGs without the greatest minds of our youth who have the best imaginations and are the digital trailblazers of our time.
The digital age has grown with our youth, so much so that they are an essential part of the future of technology and how it will fit in our lives to help solve the problems of tomorrow. Our younger generations are vital in making programming enjoyable and establishing partnerships by building the Island17 Metaverse Game Portal. In 2022, our San Diego Chapter is hosting the challenges to design Island17 via their Youth Fellowship and World Changing Youth on Island17 with Dream Tank launching during GEW Global Entrepreneurship Week, Nov 14-20 2022 with the leadership of Dream Tank and support from ExO Angels. This is an opportunity for young people to gain access to experts and mentors, learn about game design, and leverage their ideas and feedback to shape the future of Island17’s Metaverse Game.
Our San Diego chapter leaders are devoted to causes such as refugee support, digital health data integrity and, of course, youth education and empowerment as they advocate for the ideas that come with generations rising in the tech scene and beyond. They work to solidify confidence in our youth, encourage engagement and collaboration, champion technology and innovation and advocate for education. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg as our San Diego chapter works to continue its impact on the world and our future.