DCPS Innovation Challenge
The University of North Florida, along with Duval County Public Schools host the 2025 Innovation Challenge, a team-based competition showcasing regional high school students pitching their solutions to Florida’s evolving healthcare needs.
This is an exciting educational opportunity for high school students that offers the chance to receive scholarship prize money, mentoring by university faculty, and a platform to share innovative solutions to real healthcare needs within Florida’s First Coast.
1st place - $1,000 scholarship prize money per team member
2nd place - $750 scholarship prize money per team member
The first annual UNF MedNexus | DCPS Innovation Challenge will take place Thursday, November 13, 2025 with a theme of "Break the Vape: Reclaiming Teen Health Through Community Innovation." Teams of four students will come up with strategies to influence teen health against vaping. Vaping among adolescents has surged in recent years, driven by mmisconceptions that vaping is safer than smoking, along with peer pressure and social normalization in schools. Teams will have an opportunity to design an innovative intervention that addresses the vaping epidemic.
2025 Schedule
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Monday, September 1 | Applications Open |
| Thursday, September 18 | Applications Close |
| Tuesday, September 23 | Teams Selected Announced |
| Tuesday, September 30 | Kick-off Meeting (Mandatory for all team members) |
| Monday, October 6 to Friday, October 31 | Meetings with UNF faculty coaches |
| Friday, November 7 | Final Presentations due to faculty coaches by 5pm |
| Thursday, November 13 | MedNexus | DCPS Innovation Challenge |
Application
Students establish teams of four and research the challenge area of adolescent vaping to determine how they could influence a health intervention positively impact adolescent health.
Register your team online and explain how you will approach this health topic with an innovative solution.
Once the UNF team receives applications, four teams will be selected based on their preliminary idea to participate in the MedNexus | DCPS Innovation Challenge.
The Community Intervention
Throughout September and October, the four selected teams will develop an innovative community intervention to improve adolescent health through combating vaping. The teams will each also be responsible for creating a Public Service Announcement as part of their competition submission. University of North Florida MedNexus will connect each team with a UNF faculty member to provide feedback on their intervention and presentation.
Kick-off Meeting
The Presentation
Presentations
The AdventHealth MedNexus Innovation Challenge culminates at the Pitch Competition where teams present their innovative community-based intervention before a panel of judges. Teams are scored and provided on-the-spot feedback from the judging panel which gives students direct exposure to industry experts, corporations, investors, and university faculty.
Thursday November 13, 2025
5:00 - 7:00 pm
9911 Old Baymeadows Road East
Jacksonville, FL
32256
Faculty Coaches
