Paid Summer Workshops Offered to Mich. High School Students by KCAD and Wege Prize, to Make Positive Impact on People & Planet
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- High school students who want to create a positive impact on people and the planet can now apply for this summer's 2025 Wege Prize High School Collaborative Studio: an immersive paid workshop that empowers students entering their junior and senior year to envision solutions for the planet's worst and most complex "wicked problems." For their work in the two-week workshop, students receive a $597 stipend along with a certificate of completion and a lunch every day.
During the two-weeks, student teams develop their own design concept to address challenging global and regional problems "through the lens of whole systems design thinking, sustainable development, and the circular economy," according to Ferris State University's Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD), which presents and hosts the Wege Prize program.
KCAD adds that are open for the popular workshop, now in its fifth year, and must be submitted by mid-June.
Along with hands-on design experience and the almost $600 stipend, participating high schoolers will share in free daily lunches, create portfolio-quality design work and receive letters of recommendation, along with professional mentoring and community networking opportunities, says Gayle DeBruyn, KCAD professor of Design Studies and Wege Prize lead.
"During the workshop, students collaborate in four groups of five led by qualified instructors to research, conceptualize, and design solutions to regional challenges," says DeBruyn. "Their two-week journey culminates with a final-day team presentation on their completed designs to an audience of community leaders."
Valuable Experience, Global Outlook
In addition to the group discussions and guest speaker presentations from leaders of local organizations, the students meet business, environmental, and design professionals during local outings. They also explore timely challenges, such as the needs for shelter for locally unhoused youth, nutritional outreach for the region's underfed, ways to mitigate waste, and the effects of environmental pollutants in West Michigan.
The program's 20 students in 2024 came from 10 regional high schools plus The International School of Kenya. They and other past participants have engaged with leaders in architecture, fashion, accessibility, agriculture, food insecurity, and more, including a tour of PADNOS Recycling Center and trips to the Kids Food Basket, the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds, and Friends of Grand Rapids Parks.
"Through the workshop, the students will find expanded career opportunities and the benefits of being actively engaged with the world around them," says DeBruyn. "By providing teens with the tools to become active contributors in their communities, we're aiming to help them invest in creating a better future."
The workshop is based on the framework of KCAD's international collegiate student design competition, , which promotes the circular economy through design solutions among the multidisciplinary, cultural, and institutional participants, furthering real-world solutions to environmental, energy, waste, hunger, agricultural and other challenges.
2025 Wege Prize
High School Collaborative Studio
When: July 21 – August 1, 2025
Mondays – Fridays, 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Culminating Celebration, Friday, August 1
Where: Ferris State University's Kendall College of Art and Design
17 Fountain St. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Application deadline: June 22, 2025
To learn more and apply, visit
High-resolutions images are available at this link,
For more information or interviews with the Wege Prize High School Collaborative Studio organizers, please contact Karen M. Shan, [email protected], (845) 522-4737.
Media Contact
Karen Shan, Wege Prize, 1 845-522-4737, [email protected],
SOURCE Wege Prize
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