All of the schools put together some amazing final projects, but after counting all the legitimate votes, and calculating the judges’ scores, Western Kentucky emerged as our winner.The final vote total was:

Each of the judges ranked the projects from 1-10 (1 being the best), so a smaller sum total correlates to a better ranking. Their cumulative scores were:

Additionally, here is what the judges had to say about the projects (in no particular order):

Hofstra did a good job showing the struggles 1 billion people face on a daily basis around the world. Oftentimes it is easier for people to be impacted by a visual rather than a statistic - Great job showing everything from living conditions to limited food resources.

Western Kentucky showed hustle and energy and engaged the entire community which was impressive. Western Kentucky was savvy and the fact that they were able to get, for example, 160 people to send letters in support of the Education For All Act, showed a lot of tangible advocacy.

Kansas State did a great job reaching out to local media to spread more awareness.

The vigil was very powerful visual.

Campbellsville did a great job participating in a variety events that would reach different audiences. It is amazing how many activities you were able to host and be a part of. I hope the ONE group will continue to be involved in the campus and Campbellsville communities.

The fact that the UNLV students understood it was important both to praise a Senator supporting them and to push a Senator who was not was good, smart lobbying. Also, we can’t beat poverty on our own, and you did the best job of pulling other groups into the fight against poverty and got them to use their specific skills and interests to further the cause.

Brandeis - I loved the theme. The catchy theme was a great way to get people’s attention.

GWU did a great job demonstrating how cheap medications are for treatable diseases, it is important for people to understand something tangible like the cost of a pill. The petition delivery was the type of stunt that gets attention and sticks in people’s memories. Grade A advocacy right there.

Princeton did an amazing job inundating the campus with ONE materials the night before your campus event. I am glad you were able to make students comfortable enough to call their congressional members.

Wilmington - Engaging the local community is crucial. Hopefully you can start to build a sustainable group that bridges the campus and the community.

SHU did a great job with the playground and it was inspiring how they all were able to connect the local community to the greater global problem.

You know what is ridiculous? The complete lack of confidence in the amazing projects ALL of the top 10 schools did. I know the vast majority of these schools don’t even *want* the concert - that all came secondary to actually making a difference. It’s not about getting a free musical performance - it’s about making a difference in the world. Everyone needs to take a step back from voting, stop pointing fingers, and realize that *this* is how we got into the situation our world is in to begin with.

Those involved with ONE stand for eliminating extreme poverty and disease worldwide. Why don’t we all look and see what POSITIVE things we can say about the schools in the top ten? Try not to compliment your own school - we already know that YOU love their project.

For one, I LOVED George Washington’s use of the “Fresh African Water” in their final video submission. It was awesome - definitly got the message across. Western Kentucky’s breakdown of all the Millennium Development Goals was incredible as well - super effective. Hofstra is helping to educate children in Kenya - I’d say that’s a worthy cause. Campellsville, Kansas State, and Brandeis all had incredible awareness events as well. Wilmington College’s aspects of planning for their project in itself is daunting.

Post something here so long as you’ve got a positive thing to say. Anyone think of a project that no one did? Anything super creative? Let’s keep it going with some positive reinforcement here…

You can now keep tabs on who is winning the popular vote for the campus challenge.

What’s that? You’re school isn’t winning? Well then tell your friends to go vote!

The Campus Challenge is coming to a close, and it looks like it is going to be a photo finish.

The Top 10 campus have submitted their final projects and the reports of their efforts are now up for voting.

http://www.one.org/projects/

In the meantime, the projects are also going to be judged by panel of experts consisting of: Gene Sperling - Director of the Center on Universal Education, Patrick Schmitt – Former Exec. Director of STAND, Sam Worthington – CEO and President of InterAction, Weldon Kennedy, and myself.

In the end, the winner will be determined from final score based 60% on the popular vote and 40% on the judges’ scores.

So go pick your favorite! And if you are in the running, good luck!

Whether you are one of the Top 10 schools or hoping to grab the wild card spot in the final competition, you’ll be excited to know that you can now start reporting your efforts for consideration.

You can fill out the reporting form here.

Make sure to include as thorough a description as possible, and make sure to get it reported by the end of the day tomorrow!

While only 10 schools are guaranteed spots in the last round of competition to win the Campus Challenge, there will be one “wild card” school that has a chance to win it all. To clench that coveted spot number 1 spot, you’re going to have to be creative, and thoroughly document your efforts.

Here some ideas of things you might try doing:

• Schedule a visit with your district or state congressional office and bus students en mass to the meeting to show them just how many people in their district care about ending poverty.
• Work with your campus media groups to turn the campus paper, radio, and TV into all poverty education and advocacy programming and content for one day.
• Work with your local congressional office on including the member of Congress’s poverty fighting efforts in the next constituent mailing.
• Visit several local high schools and train students on making calls to Congress.

When you turn in your work, we’ll be looking for:

• A description of your project.
• Your goals in doing this project (be more specific than “ending poverty”).
• Your results.
• Some obstacles that you encountered and how you overcame them.
• A multi-media presentation of your efforts.