EXPLORE YOUR PASSION
Not sure what you’re passionate about learning? Check out some ideas that past Challengers have done and get inspired!
When you're ready to apply, head over to the application to design your own Learning Challenge.
Art
Jennifer, Connecticut
Jennifer designed and drew digital characters for her own created video game. She learned how to use digital software to create art.
Mary, Colorado
Mary learned how to DIY her own interior decor and turned it into a business.
Mica, Colorado
Mica learned how to make quilts. She took many creative ideas and brought them to life, and also created her own community of people with similar passions.
Beauty
Adji, Connecticut
Adji is an entrepreneur who creates and sells natural hair products.
"I started making [the product] and selling it at my aunt's hair shop and to my friends. I get shea butter from Senegal, West Africa, and I first did the research to find out what worked well, what proportions worked well, and what oils were good for your hair. And once I got the shea butter, I just combined all the ingredients. I handmade the labels, put it on the bottles, everything."
Check out her YouTube video here!
Maddie, Utah
Maddie explored silversmithing to honor her grandfather's legacy. She created stunning pieces of jewelry by analyzing each stone's potential and crafting a unique ring for each stone.
Design
Kyrsa, Colorado
Kyrsa combined their passions for art and cosplay to create their own character.
Adrian, Connecticut
Adrian focused their learning challenge on creating custom characters from existing dolls by changing the makeup and costumes.
"I personally don't know how to sew, but I'm pretty passionate about this brand...So I went on ebay and then searched up those like individual items and ordered those, and then painted them or kind of redesigned them to match the characters. They weren't original to these characters. They were just all over in the franchise so with my vision I brought them all together and customized them as I needed to."
Check out their YouTube here!
T’Zaih, Connecticut
T'Zaih designed sneakers via 3D modeling to build physical soles/shoes.
Education
Toluwanimi, Florida
Toluwanimi conducted research on equity issues of the education system by setting up interviews with several non-profits and learning about the causes and effects of living in poverty. She then donated supplies to students in need.
Check out her site here!
Karla, California
Karla was curious to learn why low-income Latin communities are disproportionately underfunded in education resources. She then held a school supply donation drive school supplies for those communities
Engineering
Inayah, New York
Inayah built a robotic arm from scratch and programmed it to paint flowers on a canvas.
"The most memorable part of this learning challenge was seeing my robotic arm move for the first time. I've worked very hard on this, so I felt very proud at this moment especially since I built it all on my own."
Check out the youtube video here!
Entrepreneurship
Louise, California
Louise had a small gift basket business and focused on learning marketing strategies to expand her business.
Finance
Sam, Mississippi
Sam learned how to trade stocks and options by managing a budget and researching which stocks were worth investing in.
Health
Chloe, Maryland
Chloe created a social media page to spread awareness about mental health. She collaborated with other creators with similar goals and grew her social media platform.
Check out the Instagram page she created here!
Music
Landon, Colorado
Landon focused his challenge on public performance and busking (public performance of music for money without going to a venue).
"Before GripTape, I was super insecure and introverted...My champion was phenomenal. And because of her wanting me to do well, and her being there to support me, it pushed me to a level of 'I really need to do this.' and that got me out of my shell so much that I'm super happy to be around people...I have changed my life completely around"
Check out his YouTube video here!
Photography
Sterling, Utah
Sterling explored new photography and videography techniques by experimenting with different cameras and editing software, as well as playing around with composition and lighting. He worked towards his goals of creating this into a business.
Science
Lily, Colorado
Lily lives on a ranch and focused her learning challenge on the molecular biology behind twinning rates of their cattle.
"We have about 35 cows and have a set of twins every few years. This year, however, we had 5 sets of twins, which is something that's never happened before amd that's something that I feel could benefit the scientific community."
Check out her YouTube short here!
Amadeus, Indiana
Amadeus learned about beekeeping and harvested more than twenty jars of honey.
Sheikh, New York
Sheikh set out on a mission to better understand chemistry and educate others through a Youtube channel that he created.
Check out his YouTube channel here!
Ash, Wyoming
Ash learned how to collect and preserve insects, and managed to complete ten bug pinnings.
Karen, Texas
Karen is alleviating food injustice with hydroponics because many low-income families in her community can't afford to buy groceries and often opt for junk foods, while there are many underutilized spaces at food banks and urban areas. She aspires to provide a source of healthy produce for at least 20 families of North Texas Food Bank this year and educate at least 300 students and adults in the DFW area about food justice, sustainable agriculture, and the importance of healthy eating.
Sports
Nadine, Colorado
Nadine explored rock climbing safety and techniques, and learned how to rope climb both inside a gym and outdoors on real rock.