Institut Ostrom Catalunya wins 2021 Smith Student Outreach Award for economic curriculum

Catalonia-based Atlas Network partner Institute Ostrom Catalunya is the winner of the 2021 Smith Student Outreach Award and its US$3,000 prize. They took the stage during the Eyes on the Prize Dinner Program at Atlas Network’s 2021 Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner to accept the award. The organization won the award for an educational program they launched designed to teach secondary school students the basics of free market economics.

The Ostrom Institute, as they are known in English, called this program “Empowering the Next Generation of Free Minds 2021 Edition.” The curriculum uses diverse and engaging teaching methods like games, videos, and group discussions to provide students an introduction to free-market concepts. It covers topics like price mechanisms, spontaneous order, creative destruction, and more. The Ostrom Institute aims to increase students’ critical thinking skills, enable students to evaluate societal problems through the lens of economics, create an interest in entrepreneurship, and promote the understanding of free-market economics.

Based on the organization’s previous version of the project, this edition scaled up earlier efforts in order to meet demand from teachers and schools. This year, The Ostrom Institute reached over 5,000 students in over 20 Catalonian schools. With a user-reported satisfaction score of over 90%, every participating school has asked for the course to return next year. This project reaches students at a transformative age, and it has the power to help build a better, freer future for Catalonia.