The Nextgen Leadership Academy is a globally accessible 2-week civic summit where 100 high schoolers are selected among hundreds of applicants to engage with high-profile speakers, work with peers, and create a project for a final prize of $1,000 for the best idea. Globally accessible is the key word. In fact, out of the 100 accepted participants in 2025, 48 were from authoritarian countries that outlawed civic advocacy. At PIVOT, we believe that free speech is a natural human right, no matter where you are in the world, and students should be taught to exercise it responsibly.


This summit is a joint effort between two youth-led organizations: PIVOT and Virtutem Populo. PIVOT brings deep storytelling, global perspective, and curriculum thinking. Virtutem Populo brings strategy, structure, and project-based design.

2025 pitch competition winners: 
1st prize: Anas Alhendawi — Gaza, Palestine
2nd prize: Dainna Park — Washington DC, US
3rd prize: Darlene Cyizere — Uganda

Speaker Profiles