It's almost time to pick the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Education, our annual who's who of the brightest individuals under the age of 30 who are changing the education landscape with some of the sector's most innovative ideas. This is our sixth year, and past honorees span the sector from educators, dorm-room doers and edtech founders to charter school and special ed advocates and DREAM Act and higher ed access activists. We've also included policy analysts, girls’ education promoters, youth orchestra managers and venture capitalists.
Hurry. Don't miss this opportunity to send in the names of the people you think most deserving of being on the list this year. The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2016. Click here for the nomination form.
Winners from the past include:
Nic Borg: Cofounder, Edmodo. Now eight years on, this global K-12 education network has accumulated $87.5 million in equity funding and 72.6 million members.
Sam Choudhary, Liam Don: Cofounders, ClassDojo. Founded in 2011, this edtech startup connects educators to students' parents and families. ClassDojo has raised $31 million in venture funding to date, including $21 million announced earlier this year.
Carissa Romero: Partner, Paradigm Strategy. We put this PhD on the 2016 list when she was then-director of programs at the Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS), an applied research center at Stanford University. She's since moved on to the consulting firm, where she works with top tech companies such as Airbnb and Slack to improve workplace diversity and inclusion.
Zakiya Smith: Strategy director, Lumina Foundation. Holding a master’s degree in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Smith leads the work of the Foundation to develop new models of student financial support for higher education. Prior, she served as a senior advisor for education at the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Tammy Tibbetts: Cofounder, She's the First. Founded by Tibbetts and Christen Brandt, both the first college graduates in their families in 2009. The mission is to engages U.S. students to sponsor education for girls in low-income countries to help them become first-generation graduates. To date there are 225 campus chapters and 805 STF scholars.
Past judges include the Emerson Collective's Laurene Powell Jobs, Wendy Kopp of Teach for All, Stacey Childress, CEO of New Schools Venture Fund, the College Board's David Coleman and Deborah Bial, founder of the Posse Foundation.
For months, we've been pouring over the over 5,000 online nominations as well as recommendations from leading educators, advocates, journalists and investors - as well alumni of the list.
The list-makers will be announced on January 3, 2017 and featured in the January issue of Forbes. Take a moment to view previous winners:
