Programs
Nobelity in Schools
Nobelity in Schools brings the films of the Nobelity Project to classrooms across the U.S. and abroad, to inform students about problems faced by the world and motivate them to become involved, through the words of Nobel laureates in the films. DVDs of the films are available to any teacher that requests one. [1]
Kenyan Water Project
Seeing the stark poverty of a village in Kenya was a primary motivator behind the formation of the Nobelity Project. Students at the St Joseph's Mahiga Primary School had to walk for an hour to reach a stream to get drinking water and suffered illnesses from the unpurified water. The Kenyan Water Project was able to build a pump and provide running water to the school, and provide the classroom with supplies including some computers.
Mahiga Hope High School
In 2009, The Nobelity Project began construction on Mahiga Hope High School in rural Kenya. It is the first high school in the area of Mahiga near Nyeri. The school held its grand opening on October 1, 2010. The Nobelity Project is also building a science building for the school along with organic gardens to be completed in fall 2010. Construction of the school earned the Nobelity Project a nomination for Architecture for Humanity's book, Design Like You Give a Damn 2, a collection of writings about projects designed to benefit humanity.
Mahiga Rainwater Court
In 2009, Nike, Inc. awarded The Nobelity Project, in partnership with Architecture for Humanity, a "Game Changers Award", an architectural grant to build a multiple purpose game, performance and rain water collection facility. It is an athletic facility for Mahiga Hope High, as well as providing a community center for Mahiga. It also provides the schools only source of drinking water. The Mahiga Rainwater Court held was opened in conjunction with the school's grand opening.
Mahiga Hope Library
In 2010, construction began on the Mahiga Hope Library. This library will provide books to the whole community of Mahiga. This unique library consists of books donated by individuals along with personal inscriptions in each book, part of their book drive 1,000 Books for Hope. The book drive received contributions from individuals and school groups and the library will also provide text books and reference books in English and Swahili.
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit, aquifer, or a reservoir with percolation. Dew and fog can also be collected with nets or other tools. Rainwater harvesting differs from stormwater harvesting as the runoff is collected from roofs, rather than creeks, drains, roads, or any other land surfaces. Its uses include watering gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, and domestic heating. The harvested water can also be committed to longer-term storage or groundwater recharge.
Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift she studied in the United States, earning a Bachelor's Degree from Mount St. Scholastica and a Master's Degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She went on to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to become a Doctor of Philosophy, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
Oakton Community College is a public community college with campuses in Des Plaines, Illinois and Skokie, Illinois. It was established in 1969 in Morton Grove, Illinois and moved to its current locations in 1980.
John R. Rogers High School is a four-year public secondary school in Spokane, Washington, part of Spokane Public Schools. Opened in 1932 in northeast Spokane, the school is named after John Rankin Rogers, the third governor of the State of Washington.
The Hanford Joint Union High School District in Hanford consists of a total of 3,522 students from Hanford High School, Hanford West High School, Earl F. Johnson Continuation School, and Hanford Adult School. A arts high school, Sierra Pacific High School, opened on August 13, 2009 with 217 freshman.
The PeaceJam Foundation is an international organization whose mission statement is "to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody." The PeaceJam program was launched in February 1996 by co-founders Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff to provide the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with a programmatic vehicle to use in working together to teach youth the art of peace. This foundation supports young people working for change through peaceful acts, giving them a platform by which they can be heard.
Humanity First is an international charity that provides disaster relief and long term development assistance to vulnerable communities in 52 countries across 6 continents. The organisation is run by volunteers with diverse skillsets across the world and has access to thousands of extra volunteers worldwide. Volunteer staff in all areas often pay their own expenses to support the international projects.
Sudan Sunrise, Inc. is a 501c3 organization based out of Fairfax, Virginia. According to their mission statement, Sudan Sunrise strives for grassroots reconciliation, education and community building in order to lift up examples of peace and forgiveness between former enemies as alternatives to the history of violence in Sudan and South Sudan. Sudan Sunrise also facilitates local efforts in Southern Sudan to provide education, health care and community development.
Nobelity is a feature documentary which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Ahmed Zewail and Wangari Maathai.
One Peace at a Time is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and was premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, USA, on April 14, 2009. It is the sequel to the film Nobelity. It has been shown in various countries.
Diébédo Francis Kéré is an architect who was born April 10, 1965 in Gando, Burkina Faso and studied at the Technical University of Berlin. Since 1985, he has been living in Berlin, Germany, where he set up Kéré Architecture. Parallel to his studies, he established the Kéré Foundation e.V., and in 2005 he founded Kéré Architecture. His architectural practice has been recognized nationally and internationally with awards including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first building, the Gando Primary School in Burkina Faso, and the Global Holcim Award 2012 Gold. Kéré has undertaken projects in varied countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, Germany, the United States, Kenya, and Uganda. In 2017 the Serpentine Galleries commissioned him to design the Serpentine Pavilion in London. He has held professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Yale School of Architecture and the Swiss Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio. In 2017 he accepted the professorship for "Architectural Design and Participation" at TU München (Germany).
The G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, commonly referred to by its acronym CULC, is an academic building on the main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The five-story, 220,000 sq ft (20,000 m2) building houses classrooms, science laboratories, academic services, commons areas, and is managed by and connected to the Georgia Tech Library. Named in honor of President Emeritus G. Wayne Clough, the Clough Commons cost $85 million and opened in the fall of 2011.
Turk Pipkin is an author, actor, comedian and director.
Building Hope is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and premiered on March 12 at the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. It is the sequel to the film One Peace at a Time.
The University of Illinois Laboratory High School, also known as Uni High or just Uni, was established in 1921 and is a laboratory school located on the engineering section of the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, Illinois. Its enrollment is approximately 300 students, spanning five years. The school is notable for the achievements of its alumni, including three Nobel laureates and a Pulitzer Prize winner. In 2006 and 2008 it was recognized as a "public elite" school by Newsweek because of its students' high scores on the SAT. Before the recent change in the SAT's format, the average SAT score was 2045, and now varies from 1400 to 1600. The average ACT score is a 32.
Dan Phillips is an American designer and builder from Texas. He is the founder and face of Phoenix Commotion, a construction company established in 1997. Phoenix Commotion focuses on designing Eco-friendly homes for low-income individuals and families such as struggling artists and single mothers. The company’s goals include reducing landfill burdens through the use of excess and recyclable materials; providing low-income housing through selection of cheap materials and labor; and allowing opportunities for the unemployed by training unskilled workers.
Knowlton Hall, located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, is the current home for the three disciplines that comprise the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture (KSA) at The Ohio State University. The building was completed in 2004. The School of Architecture offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City and Regional Planning. Knowlton Hall serves as the replacement for Ives Hall, the previous home of the school of architecture which was demolished in July 2002. The namesake of Knowlton Hall is Austin E. "Dutch" Knowlton. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1931 with a Bachelor's in Architectural Engineering and provided a $10 million donation that spearheaded the funding for the creation of the building.
The Mathare Football for Hope Centre is located on Kangundo Road, in Komarock, Kenya. The project's start date was 15 August 2008 and cost approximately US$120,000 at its conclusion. The physical structure is sized at 200 sq. meters and includes a Youth Centre, Stadium/Sports Facility, Health Clinic, and a Community Centre. The site's capacity is capped at 200. The centre's beneficiaries include at-risk children from ages ten to eighteen years of age, and will be accessed by approximately 50,000 people of the greater Mathare community and surrounding areas.
Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre is the first Football for Hope project and was launched on 28 July 2008. The centre opened on 5 December 2009 in the Harare neighbourhood. It cost approximately US$256,000 and spans about 220 square meters. Khayelitsha is a township in the Western Cape of South Africa in Cape Town.
The Makoko Floating School was a building project of Makoko, Lagos, Nigeria which was developed in 2013. The school was abandoned in March 2016 over safety concerns and collapsed in a storm in June 2016. Subsequent iterations have been proposed.
