Lake Forest College to host high school “World in 2050” contest

In its second year, Lake Forest College has expanded its popular “World in 2050” contest with a new high school division. Starting December 15, students at Deerfield High School, Highland Park High School, and Lake Forest High School can participate by responding to the following question: What will the world of the future hold at the half-century mark?

Students in the high school division will compete against each other, and prizes for the winners in both divisions are $2,500 for 1st place, $1,500 for 2nd place, and $1,000 for 3rd place. Students may enter solo, or in groups of up to four students.

The prompt is open-ended—and students might produce an imaginative speculation of what music will sound like, the risks and rewards of artificial superintelligence, likely directions in demographics and politics, or a meditation on how the world we live in now may be changed.

The competition will open on December 15, 2017, and close to submissions on March 1, 2018. Click here for details on how to submit.

Entries will be judged by a panel of Lake Forest College faculty, trustees, as well as Principal Kathyrn Anderson (Deerfield), Principal Elizabeth Robertson (Highland Park), and Principal Chala Holland (Lake Forest).

The winners and runners-up will be announced at an awards ceremony as part of the 21st annual Steven Galovich Student Symposium at Lake Forest College on April 10, 2018.

“The Symposium is a day-long celebration of student achievement, and a natural fit for high school students who have demonstrated creative thinking,” said Associate Dean of the Faculty and Professor of English Davis Schneiderman.

“Whether it is sports, technology, music, or economics, anticipating the future helps one to affect the future,” notes Lake Forest College Trustee Liam Connell, sponsor of the contest. “Short-term changes are often noise; what are important are long-term changes. That is why we want to look out to 2050, and beyond. Four years is an election cycle, but a generation from now, that is the real future.”

For more information, contact Dean Schneiderman, at [email protected] or call 847-735-5282.