Together and beyond JDC West 2024, let’s work together to achieve Success through Sustainability: Acting Now, Thinking for Tomorrow.

Together and beyond JDC West 2024, let’s work together to achieve Success through Sustainability: Acting Now, Thinking for Tomorrow. The context of JDC West 2024, from finding a host school in April, to forming an organizing committee in the summer months, to planning for the best possible competition both this year and following years indicates the importance of acting now while thinking for tomorrow. The same can be said for each of your teams, as you welcome new and returning competitors, utilize your alumni for coaching, and build recognition of JDC West year over year. This requires long-term thinking, and thinking beyond oneself to achieve success through sustainability.

More broadly, we know that long-term, sustainable thinking is necessary to meet the social, environmental, and economic requirements of future generations. At JDC West 2024, we will bring all of your innovative minds together to think through how we can act today while planning for tomorrow. Success through Sustainability aims to remind our competitors that while we all have a pivotal role in the success of JDC West 2024, we also have a role in our communities beyond this competition. We want our competitors to remember that while they act in the ‘now’ competing at JDC West, there are several learnings and lessons to carry forward as we grow and develop in our careers. What are our personal long-term visions and values? How will we continue to build communities and team cultures? How will we ensure that what we do in the short-term benefits the longterm? How will we keep social, environmental and economic outcomes in mind to build a better future for those who follow us?

Theme Pillars

Adaptability

Being able to adjust to new conditions in a moment’s notice is imperative in our new normal. Recent years have taught us the importance of malleability, requiring us to challenge our assumptions and norms. As we establish new patterns and ways of work, be it at or beyond JDC West, our future leaders need to understand the importance of adapting to new circumstances by acting in the now to enrich our futures. 

Perseverance

Thinking through a sustainable lens requires us to consider that achieving success is not an immediate outcome. It is important for our future contributors to persist, regardless of difficulty or delay in achieving the outcomes we desire for our future. JDC West challenges our competitors to learn new skills, from technologies, working with teams, working under pressure, and/or managing time. Persevering through the challenges presented at JDC West gives delegates an opportunity to refine skills both during and after the competition. 

Discovery 

Alongside new challenges and normal, comes an opportunity to innovate in order to build a better future. Each of us are in a unique position to make changes to established structures and systems, be it through introducing new methods, ideas, or inventions. We welcome all avenues of discovery and encourage our delegates to think creatively and to be a part of new solutions to social, environmental, and economic challenges