Via Maryland Today / By Emilie Miranda '25
$40K Competition Celebrates Students Creating Social Impact Toward Global Challenges
An initiative providing medical training education to Ghanaian citizens and an organization reducing food waste through the recovery of surplus food took the top prizes at the University of Maryland’s 13th annual Do Good Challenge.
Black Stars Wellness Initiative, a program that educates Ghanaian citizens about life-saving medical training such as CPR, AED and first aid, took home the $10,000 prize in the founders category. The UMD chapter of the Food Recovery Network, a student-led organization focused on battling food insecurity in Prince George’s County and the UMD community through the collection and donation of excess food, won the $10,000 award for the leaders track.
This year the previous competition tracks were reimagined into the Founders and Leaders tracks. The Founders track is for competitors who are the original founders or creators of their organization, project or initiative. The Leaders track is for competitors in leadership or decision-making roles (e.g., director, president, manager).
Four other finalists took a share of $20,000 in prize money awarded in Tuesday evening’s competition, which drew more than 500 students, staff, faculty and community members to the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center to hear presentations from the teams.
Tonight is another opportunity to see how the Do Good Institute and our Do Good Campus have empowered students across every school and college to take bold action and drive real change for real people. Just by making it to this stage tonight, these students have already made a big difference.Darryll J. Pines President, University of Maryland
Black Stars Wellness Initiative, which teaches first aid, CPR and AED skills across Ghana, won the $10,000 top prize in the Founders track. “This may not be your life, but this is the life of over 30 million Ghanaians,” said founder Ebenezer Mensah, recalling his motivation to start the project after losing a childhood friend due to the lack of bystander CPR. The program has trained over 2,500 people and established four training centers since 2023. “At least nine lives are saved every six months, with over forty-seven lives saved since summer 2023,” Mensah told the crowd.
Second place in the Founders track went to Dare to Dream, which received $5,000. The organization empowers underserved youth, particularly Black and brown, disabled, queer and first-generation students through entrepreneurial education, mentorship and funding. “In just two and a half years, we have already impacted over 500 students through 10 paid programs, where we have a 98% success rate of launching youth-passion-driven businesses,” said founder Takiyah Roberts. “And the best part is, we don't charge students or their families for our programs.”
The Movement Street earned third place and $2,500 in the Founders Track. The organization is redefining volunteerism through flexible in-person, virtual and passive service opportunities. “We believe volunteerism should be powerful, accessible and enjoyable,” said founder Lyric Amodia. Since 2020, it has engaged more than 3,400 volunteers, facilitated more than 845,000 hours of service, and generated an estimated $28 million in economic impact for communities.
The founders track judges included Sagar Doshi, '15, a strategy and operations manager of Deloitte Consulting and 2014 Do Good Challenge Winner, Michelle Gilliard, the principal consultant of Michelle Gilliard & Associates, LLC, and Cedric Nwafor ’18, CNML ’21, the chief executive officer of Roots Africa and 2021 Do Good Challenge Winner.
On the Leaders track, the first place team was Sophia Li and Kyle Zibell, representing the UMD chapter of the Food Recovery Network. Since 2018, the chapter has recovered more than 130,000 meals from on-campus dining halls and, in 2024 alone, collected more than 28,000 pounds of food, equivalent to 23,000 meals, with the help of more than 200 student volunteers. Chapter president Sophia Li emphasized the organization’s dual mission of combating food insecurity and reducing food waste. “Every recovery we do not only feeds someone—it prevents perfectly good food from ending up in landfills,” she said.
In recent years, the chapter has also partnered with the Campus Pantry to support food-insecure students at UMD. “Last year in the DMV, 1.5 million individuals experienced food insecurity, and at the University of Maryland campus alone, 27 percent of students reported food insecurity. This is a crippling epidemic, and we believe that access to healthy and nutritious meals is a basic human right,” said Sophia.
In the Leaders track, second place and $5,000 went to Terp Thon, a student-led organization raising funds for Children’s National Hospital through year-round engagement and an annual 12-hour dance marathon. Executive director Maddy Bulman and internal director Anna Devoto represented the team during their presentation, where they shared, “Every hour we dance is for a child who can’t,” reflecting on their mission to bring hope and healing to young patients. “Since you last saw us in 2018, we have worked with over 450 student teams and 1.2 million participants to raise a grand total of over $2.5 million.”
Bitcamp, a student-run hackathon focused on inclusivity in tech, won third place and $2,500. Co-directors Anjali Samavedam and Sharvari Tirodkar emphasized the event’s mission to break down barriers to entry in technology. “Bitcamp isn’t just a weekend, it’s a launchpad,” Anjali said. In 2024, the team welcomed over 1,000 participants and led tech immersion programs for Baltimore City students. “Students come in with curiosity and leave with confidence, often building solutions to problems in their own communities.”
Leaders track judges included Rosie Allen-Herring, the president and chief executive officer of United Way of the National Capital Area, Marci Hunn, the senior program director of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and Kahlil Kettering, MPM ’15, the executive director of The Nature Conservancy Maryland/DC Chapter and 2014 Do Good Challenge Finalist.
The evening also included Audience Choice text-to-vote awards. Audience members heard two Lightning Pitches from Hungry 4 Impact and Terrapin Think Tank, with the Terrapin Think Tank earning the $1,000 Lightning Pitch Audience Choice Vote after co-director Ethan Adler shared the team's vision of driving civic engagement and policy change through student-led research. The $2,500 Audience Choice Award for Finalists went to Dare to Dream, reflecting strong crowd support for its mission and impact. Hungry 4 Change, which directly assists households at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness by connecting them with essential resources, financial assistance, and long-term support services, also garnered attention for its impactful work.
The Do Good Challenge and the Do Good Institute are made possible by the support and commitment of our dedicated partners, donors and community.
We are incredibly grateful to the Karen and Bruce Levenson Family Foundation for its visionary leadership and partnership since 2010. Today, thousands of student leaders are making a deep impact in their communities through UMD's Do Good Campus.
A special thank you to Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management for its decade-plus lead sponsorship of the Do Good Challenge; The Rothschild Foundation for its transformative partnership with the Do Good Institute and Do Good Challenge; Freed Photography for capturing every in-person Do Good Challenge Finals; and our newest Do Good Challenge sponsor, The Black Mill.
Did you miss the Finals event? You can watch it on YouTube. Learn more about this year’s Do Good Challenge here.