Have you ever stopped to think, how can I make Gloucester more awesome? The Awesome Gloucester Foundation presents a new opportunity to turn your ideas into reality.

The Awesome Gloucester Foundation consists of twenty trustees who donate $50 dollars a month. Each month, the $1,000 raised is given to a group in the community that needs the money for a project.

Recently, the foundation has decided to designate one month a year to hold the The Awesome Challenge – a challenge issued to the students of Gloucester High School.

This month, the challenge topic is, “how can deeper more meaningful connections be created between the young, middle aged and elders in the city of Gloucester?”

The original plan was to give a $1,000 grant, to the best proposal. However,  the Gloucester Education Foundation offered to match that dollar amount. So now, there is an open challenge with a grant for $2,000 for students,  and teachers, who have a project that they need funded.

“We left it intentionally broad to get a variety of ideas,” said Rich Francis, an Awesome Gloucester trustee and history teacher at GHS.  “What can we do to make Gloucester more awesome?”

Presenting this opportunity to students helps Awesome Gloucester reach a group that might not even know about them.

According to Francis, the trustees are looking for ideas that are achievable. After looking over all the entries, three finalists are picked and invited to pitch night, which is open to the public.

At pitch night, the three finalists will present their idea or project. After they have all presented, the trustees will vote and come to a decision on who will receive the grant.

Those who do not win, still have the chance to get their ideas out to the public. This gives the runners up an opportunity to maybe catch the attention of someone else at the pitch night who may be willing to help them out with their pitch.

The deadline to send in pitch ideas is February 28th.  Interested students should visit the Awesome Gloucester website  http://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/gloucester