ECONOMICS STUDENT WINS COMPETITION

Economics student wins UNA-USA competition

In September, Ritesh Yadav, an economics student at the College of Business, won first prize in the UNA-USA Sustainable Development Goals pitch competition. In August, the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) sent calls for pitch proposals to over 20,000 members. Eight candidates were selected to present four-minute pitches explaining their proposal to the judges. Yadav was declared the winner and awarded $500 to implement his proposal on campus. Yadav’s proposal focused on two Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-- SDG 13: Climate Change and SDG 14: Life Below Water. His pitch centered around starting an awareness campaign through discussions that would incentivize students to participate and learn about the problems that single-use plastics create. As a board member of the UNA-USA Idaho State chapter, Yadav plans to work with his fellow members to develop a strategic plan to implement his proposal on campus. “We have often learned about the harm plastic causes to our environment,” said Yadav of his inspiration for the project. “Unfortunately, only a handful of universities in the United States have adopted sustainable alternatives oncampus. I want our campus community to be a leader in adopting sustainability on-campus and set an example.”

After graduation Yadav plans to attain a Ph.D. in development economics and eventually start a non-profit.