Semester for Impact

Practice your leadership, develop in-demand skills, grow your real-world impact, and contribute remotely through a semester-long project

Collaborate across cultures to make a difference on the lives of others as you develop the skills expected by elite employers and top universities. The need for young people to learn how to work effectively on a diverse team and manage complex projects is more important than ever. As communities around the globe face daunting challenges, you have a chance to step up and stand out through your Sage Semester for Impact project.

Program Calendar

• Fall Semester: October to December

• Spring Semester: February to April

Cost

• Tuition: $6,300 USD (covers all learning and facilitation costs, though student may need to fundraise to cover materials, equipment, or vendor costs depending on the solution identified for the project)

• Scholarships: We offer partial scholarships to selected students based on need and potential for impact

Eligibility

• Demonstrated maturity: We look for students who can provide evidence of personal maturity to handle a real-world project and participate successfully online. We look for students who are self-motivated, able to ask for assistance, have a desire to learn, and understand their strengths and weaknesses - the foundational skills Sage Experience will build upon to grow the student’s leadership and impact. We look for evidence of maturity in the application, interview, and recommendation

• Typical Grade & Age: We do not have strict age cut-offs for our Semester for Impact programs, but most of our students are at least 15 years old or 9th grade and above

Application Process

• Deadlines: Applications reviewed when received so spaces may fill before the deadline

  • Spring Semester: January 15

  • Fall Semester: September 15

• Requirements:

  • Completed online form

  • One short essay

  • One recommendation from (not a letter) a teacher OR peer

  • Interview to understand goals and interests

Apply online to launch your Sage Semester for Impact project and truly change the world

Your Semester for Impact project is customized to your skills and interests

• Choose either Fall or Spring semester: Select the season based on your availability

  • Fall semester runs from around October to December and Spring semester runs February to April

• Manageable Weekly Time Commitment: Your project will last for one semester (~3 months)

  • Students meet each week with their team for 1-2 hours, including a project advisor

  • Students will have additional meetings each month with a personal coach and project advisor to check in on project progress, skill development, and personal growth

  • Students will also spend additional time each week, ~2-4 hours, making progress on the project independently, conducting research, preparing analyses, or the like

• Flexible Meeting Times: Our team members will accommodate your time-zone with meetings before or after school or on weekends

• Remote Format: Students from across the globe conduct all activities remotely and will meet with their support team via video conference (Zoom or similar platform) and can email or message team members anytime for assistance

• Projects for all possible majors: Students of all academic interests can find a project that suits their needs, whether STEM, humanities, social sciences, athletics, or arts (or anything else you might be imagining)

• Skill development aligned with future careers: With support from the personal Skills Coach, students develop in-demand Sage skills such as creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, independence, global citizenship, persuasion, problem solving, adaptability, and emotional intelligence

• Intellectual enhancement: Engage experts in your project’s subject area, with mentorship from leaders in fields related to your potential major, and the opportunity to produce a paper, podcast, website, or other composition related to your project that highlights your impact and intellectual growth using your experience

• Project Location: While international students participate remotely, projects are based in Ghana, West Africa serving a low-resource community

• Travel Opportunity: Some students also choose to travel to visit the project site in-person through the Sage Ghana Summer Program, which offers supplementary experiences to build student cultural and emotional intelligence through experiential case-studies and on-the-ground activities

• Certificate of Completion & Recommendation: Students who successfully demonstrate growth in Sage skills and show potential for impact through their real-world efforts will be awarded a certificate of completion. Students with exceptional performance may have the chance to receive a letter of recommendation.

How will you demonstrate your true capabilities to have an impact on the world during the semester?

Your Semester for Impact project is designed to meet community needs and selected to match your interests

Our Sage team will work with you on a project that matches your personal interests and goals within one of our 4 challenge areas:

1. Entrepreneurship & Governance

2. Engineering & Environment

3. Education & Arts

4. Health & Sports

If you do not find a project that aligns with your interests, share more about your interests during your interview and we can see how to match your interests to the local needs.

Lead a project informed by community needs

We will collaborate with a partner community to identify a meaningful real-world opportunity that will enhance the community. You will work closely with a representative from the community as you design and implement your project, which could take a range of forms limited only by our collective imagination and readiness to transform lives:

• Establish a Kindle library and train librarians at a school serving at-risk youth

• Install a solar power backup system at a rural health clinic and train local electricians on repair

• Launch an after-school arts program to empower academically struggling students

• Found a girl’s football (soccer) team that uses local mentors to empower players with life-skills

• Develop a clean-water project in a village, providing a borehole, rain water collection systems, and water filters

• Support a micro-entrepreneur build her store and import in-demand goods directly from the factory

Learn from Sage experts to deepen your intellect and drive your success

Engage your intellectual curiosity so you have a deep knowledge of issues that will allow you stand out in applications and interviews. To help you succeed with your project, you will have the chance to learn from experts in academic areas related to your project, from solar energy to early childhood education. By the conclusion of your project, you will have the knowledge and experience to share your work so you can share your insights and approach to further grow your impact. With your experience, you will be empowered to compose a paper, host a presentation, develop a website, or share your experience in your own way to provide a path for others to build on your achievements.

Develop not only your academic knowledge, but also your design thinking and project management capabilities to lead real change

You will practice design thinking to help you translate the community needs into meaningful outcomes. Through your project you will practice project management skills so your project has the maximum impact. Your Sage Semester for Impact project is designed for real-world impact by basing decisions on research and expertise. Too few students are challenged to use these professional-level skills early on, and too often universities and employers struggle to develop these skills in their students and workers, but with Sage you have the chance to jump start your personal development. If learning how to lead a real-world project is like learning a language, you must start early. Grow your skills through a Sage Semester for Impact project and stand out among your peers. Apply now and see how you can harness your leadership for real-world impact.

Student Case Studies

Sage Library Project

To expand on a mobile library project started during the Ghana Summer Program, a student from Beijing interested in architecture worked with a Ghanaian architect to design a permanent library facility at the Sage Centre, built with a shipping container. The student met weekly with team members to understand the community and library needs, learn about the design process, consider the feasibility of concepts for rural Ghana, and develop key architecture skills, including crafting blueprints, detail drawings, and schematics. The scope of the project included developing actual drawings for the library to be constructed in rural Ghana to serve thousands of students in the region. The project was designed to allow the student to get first-hand experience as an architect, including supporting the actual construction of the library according to the student’s own creative designs for the space and furniture, which can be added to a portfolio to apply for a B.Arch degree.

Clean Water Access Project

A student interested in engineering and infrastructure worked with a Sage team to understand the challenges a small coastal village faced accessing clean water. With the support of the Sage team, the student supported primary research to learn about local water usage and needs. The student researched water technologies from desalinization to air-to-water condensation machines to bore-holes. Based on data gathered about the technologies, the student conducted an analysis to identity the optimal option to meet the village’s need. The student then used the analysis to fundraise to be able to execute the solution, collaborating with local contractors to implement the technology with the village, including a plan for long-term maintenance and sustainability. The student learned about infrastructure development in emerging economies, cross-cultural communication, budgeting, negotiations, clean water technologies, and analytical approaches for data-driven decision-making. Successful completion of this project means children no longer have to spend hours each day fetching water from far-away places. Through the student’s efforts, over a hundred families would no longer have to rely on contaminated water sources and would have regular access to clean water.

Be supported by a team of experts in project management, personal development, and your project’s subject matter

Subject Mentor

Semester for Impact projects are designed with an innovative educational approach built around a real-world project that solves a pressing community challenge, which you can lead in-person and remotely. Learn in-depth about the challenge from your Subject Mentor, an expert in the field, helping you connect theory to real-world practice.

Project Advisor

You can lead your Semester for Impact project remotely with the support of your Project Advisor who provides on-the-ground support to turn decisions and vision into action for successful implementation. Your Project Advisor brings experience in the field to help you understand the local context and identify actionable solutions.

Personal Coach

Schools are failing to develop valuable personal, team, and leadership skills. Throughout the semester, you will have a personal Skills Coach every step of the way to enhance your strengths and work through your weaknesses. Through real-world practice, you will develop valuable skills demanded for college admissions and careers.

What makes your Sage Semester for Impact project unique?

1. Achieve real-world impact around a cause you care about

2. Develop your cultural intelligence working on a global team

3. Collaborate with members of a local community for sustainable change

4. Show you care about changing the world, not just traveling the world

5. Learn in-demand skills through a real-world project you can share with admissions officers and hiring managers

6. Benefit from the mentorship of professionals in your field of interest, from business consultants to engineers

7. Empower local learners to grow as leaders alongside you to sustain your project