Schmidt Futures, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, has announced the inaugural cohort of Rise, a global initiative that assists talented young people who are working in service to others.

The anchor program of a $1 billion effort launched in 2019 to help identify, develop, and support young people working to address the world's most pressing problems, Rise is focused on increasing opportunities for exceptional young people to engage in lifelong service and learning across disciplines by connecting them with a global community of students, teachers, and institutions. The cohort of a hundred recipients between the ages of 15 and 17, who collectively speak more than twenty languages and hail from forty-two countries, including Afghanistan, China, India, Kenya, Mexico, and the United States, will receive a four-year, postsecondary scholarship at any accredited university, including tuition and a living stipend; an invitation to attend a fully funded, three-week residential summit; mentorship and career services; access to specialized programs, courses, and fellowship opportunities; access to a network of other winners across cohorts; and technology packages to be determined each year. Recipients also will have the opportunity to apply for additional benefits including to be matched with programs, secondary school scholarships, internships, and other benefits from Rise network partners and apply for funding and other educational supports.

Recipients include Valentina Barrón García from Mexico, who built a hydroponic system for growing fruits and vegetables to promote sustainability and address food insecurity; Christian Maboko from Burundi, who led workshops to educate young refugees about sexual and reproductive health in an effort to prevent youth pregnancy in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, where he lives; Lydia Ruth Nottingham from the United Kingdom, who convinced her school to stop using disposable masks and instead invest in reusable masks and reported on her project entirely through poetry; and Jennifer Uche from the United States, who wrote, produced, and recorded a fictional podcast to educate her peers on issues facing society including discrimination and justice reform.

"Since the beginning, our work at Schmidt Futures has centered around betting early on exceptional people who are working to solve the world's toughest problems," said Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Futures. "It is imperative that we equip a new generation of leaders with the support and resources to address the growing complexities of our world throughout their lives. Today’s Rise Global Winners have offered us a glimpse into what brilliance looks like, and I am confident that our future is in very good hands."

For a complete list of recipients, see the Rise website.