Jackson State University wins the 2016-2017 Up to Us Campus Competition
"The energy and creativity of Jackson State University's winning team and all the students who have joined this growing movement is a shining example as we seek to create greater economic opportunity and a brighter fiscal future" - Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
In the fifth year of the Up to Us campus competition, students from 75 colleges and universities around the country participated. From those 75 teams, 20 finalists were chosen by a panel of judges including Shai Akabas, Director of Fiscal Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center; Kerry Searle Grannis, Associate Director of the Brookings Institution’s Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Gordon Gray, Director of Fiscal Policy at the American Action Forum; and Steven Olikara, Founding President of the nonpartisan Millennial Action Project.
The leader of the winning team from Jackson State, Terrance Dillon, was very creative with the events he spearheaded to raise awareness on the national debt. He leveraged the popularity of television game shows and held events such as "Debt Jeopardy," "Wheel of Debt," and the "Debt is Right" on his campus. Dillon led the team to very successful events with high attendance. Nearly 900 people attended Jackson State's My Two Cents Day activity and the team inspired 936 students to take the Up to Us pledge. The team was also able to partner with a competition-high 19 other campus groups in order to raise awareness among their peers.
The winning team from Jackson State will receive a $10,000 prize, recognition at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's 2017 Fiscal Summit in Washington, D.C., and the opportunity to travel to meet with legislators and policymakers in the nation's capital.
Since 2011, Up to Us has engaged the next generation of leaders on the importance of addressing our country's fiscal challenges. Learn more and join the movement at www.itsuptous.org.
