Jindal School undergraduate students turned a class project into a $10,000 grant for a McKinney, Texas, nonprofit’s summer internship and apprenticeship program.

The Management of Nonprofit Organizations class, taught by UT Dallas’ Kyle Edgington, PhD’13, worked in teams to produce a professional proposal based on course curriculum and industry best practices. The funding was provided by alumnus Mike Redeker, MBA’97, MS’01, and his real estate development company, McKinney East.

“When we visited Alliance of Elite Youth Leadership, we didn’t have a full idea of what we were writing about, but personally I have always been really passionate about youth,” said Wilson Ly, a Jindal School senior studying healthcare management and leader of the winning team

“What they do working with teenagers is really cool. I came back and said we really need to prepare something that’s going to be impactful for them and will really make a difference. I’m so proud that we were able to do that.”

Edgington has taught the class for 10 years while serving as vice president for development and alumni relations at UT Dallas.

In previous semesters, Edgington assigned students to write mock grant applications. But this year, with the help of Redeker, the assignment on grant writing took on added meaning with real money at stake.

AEYL offers several programs designed to give teens opportunities in leadership and life skills development; it includes summer internships and apprenticeships, career training, workforce placement, STEM and robotics exploration and community engagement initiatives.

“The course I teach examines the role that nonprofits play in today’s society and the challenges of leading and managing these unique organizations,” Edgington said. “We study a range of topics including leadership, mission, program evaluation, budgeting, marketing, fundraising, volunteerism and collaboration.”