The Hack4Youth Challenge Recap!
The Hack4Youth Challenge day is an initiative of Healthy Start, in collaboration with Erasmus Verbindt! This day was powered by the challenge sponsors: Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital | So Fit & Fun Center, Stichting de Nieuwe Kans and Coalitie Stevige Start.
In this 1-day pressure cooker, students were challenged to come up with solutions for societal challenges that are related to the ambitions of Healthy Start. Students worked on 3 different cases brought in and guided by our challenge sponsors. The event was open to a diverse group of students from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus MC, and TU Delft, in line with the interdisciplinary nature of Healthy Start. In the morning, the student teams had to dive in the research question and approach the social challenge through a design process, and in the afternoon creative thinking was used to look for possible solutions. The most productive student team could choose the charity to which the prize of 100 euros will be donated. The winning So Fit & Fun Center student team choose the ‘Esther Vergeer Foundation’.
The Challenges
Sociale Verloskunde (social obstetrics)
A child with a healthy start has more chances of good health (also in later life), of wellbeing, and opportunities such as optimal participation in education, in the labour market, in their own social network and in society. A child’s first 1,000 days are crucial for healthy growth and development. Therefore, investing in health and reducing health inequalities starts before birth and needs close cooperation between the medical and social domains. This preventive approach is called social obstetrics, and it is based on the life course perspective. The challenge for the students was to dive into this problem, and create or find solutions.
This challenge was led by researcher in social obstetrics, Adja van Waelput and part of the Coalitie Stevige Start.
So Fit & Fun
Playing and exercising with peers is incredibly important for children because it stimulates the health of the heart, lungs, and muscles. Recent news has brought to light that young people are less participating in sport clubs due to the feeling of exercising as inconvenient and unimportant. The risks of inactivity are intensified for children with a chronic disease. Participating in sports may be even less self-evident for children with chronic diseases. In order to allow them to move with peace of mind, the specialists at the Sophia Children’s Hospital created the ‘So Fit & Fun Center’ to explore what is possible beyond the limitations of these children. The students helped the team find solutions and ideas to grow the facility and attract more children.
This challenge was sponsored by the Erasmus MC Sophia Kinderziekenhuis Fit & Fun Center, led by Arend van Deutekom, Hidde Hardon and Marielle Pijnenburg.
De Nieuwe Kans
De Nieuwe Kans is an organization dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering social inclusion. De Nieuwe Kans focuses on providing support and opportunities to individuals who face various challenges in their lives, such as unemployment, limited education, or a lack of social networks. The students took a closer look at this organization and the help of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors to promote mental and emotional well-being. They spent the day creating ideas for integrating CBT and Virtual Reality to help young adults.
This challenge was led by Ilse van de Groep, Reshmi Marhe and Jasmijn Verhage.
The sponsors are open to hearing your thoughts, ideas, and for (graduation) internships!
If you are interested, please contact: healthystart@convergence.nl
