# **Nouns University: A Mission to Disseminate Nouns to Students through Education, Scholarship, and Build with Nouns Programs**


*"When Students meet Nouns in Nouns University"* by **[Ryan Adi](https://www.instagram.com/ryanadi88/)**, mint for free on **[Zora](https://zora.co/collect/base:0xd667c6b0028de6e657a16fb22f7454468e30e2d1/premint-1)**

## **TL;DR**
The **Bali Nouns Week 2024** served as an important event in introducing Nouns to students, sparking their interest in crypto, block chain, and Nouns-related topics. This proposal presents a comprehensive recap of the week-long event and subsequent initiatives aimed at further engaging students with Nouns. The learnings from Nouns Week emphasize the high level of curiosity among students and their eagerness for continued involvement in the Nouns ecosystem. Building upon this success, the **Nouns University** project is introduced, focusing on ***providing education***, ***scholarships***, and ***practical project opportunities to students***. Through targeted outreach, educational sessions, scholarships, community activities, and collaborative projects, **Nouns University** aims to cultivate ***a new generation of leaders*** and ***builders*** within the Nouns ecosystem. This proposal outlines the planned activities and the expected impact of **Nouns University** in driving innovation and progress within the Nouns community and beyond.
We are seeking a budget of **$109,670 USDC** for **8 month** to make this proposal success.
*Read more here ↓*

## **Bali Nouns Week Recap**


In the beginning of the year 2024, the **Bali Nouns Week 2024** was **successfully held**. During the pre-event activities, Nouns were introduced to over **600 students** from **four visited universities**. Detailed explanations were provided regarding what Nouns is and initial steps to contribute to the Nouns community. The feedback received from this activity was highly positive. The question and answer sessions were enthusiastically utilized by participants to delve deeper into topics such as cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Nouns.

The peak event of the Bali Nouns Week 2024 took place at the Superlative Gallery from the 1st to the 3rd of March, with a vibrant atmosphere. In the grand final session of the prop house contest, **three students** out of ten participants advanced to **the grand-final**. They were students who became acquainted with Nouns through socialization activities at universities. Additionally, a **costume contest** was held in collaboration with students from the *Indonesian Institute of the Arts Denpasar*, resulting in **four masterpieces** exhibited at the Superlative Gallery for three days.

The last day concluded with the **Nouns Conference**, featuring nine speakers divided into three sessions. Each session received attention and positive responses from participants. Over **50 students** attended to listen to speakers who provided explanations in line with the theme. The students appeared eager to attend and listen to the presentations until the end. Following the conclusion of the Nouns Conference, the event was immediately closed with an award ceremony and a group photo.

## **What We Can Learn from Bali Nouns Week**
After conducting the pre-event and main event, we performed a targeted **analysis focusing** on ***university students***. The results are as follows:
1. Students exhibit a high level of curiosity about new knowledge, particularly in crypto, block chain, and NFTs.
2. Students expressed a desire for follow-up activities from Nouns Week, indicating an interest in further exploring the Nouns ecosystem in Indonesia.
3. Due to the attractive prize pool of the Nouns contest, students were highly enthusiastic about participating in the competition.
4. Several students revealed that their goal in participating in the contests/events was to seek additional income to pay their educational expenses.
5. The Nouns Week event increased students' interest in Nouns, as evidenced by the highly engaging Q&A sessions where students asked numerous questions about Nouns.

## **Nouns University**

The Nouns University Project is a pilot project aimed at ***bringing Nouns into the university realm with a primary focus on students***. The main objective of this project is to introduce and involve many students in the Nouns ecosystem. Within this framework, students will be provided with education and knowledge about Nouns. The project also provides scholarships to support university education expenses. Each scholarship recipient will be granted funding to develop their own Nounish project. Furthermore, scholarship recipients at each university will organize community social activities. Finally, there will be an offline bootcamp to present the final results of their projects and collaborate on a Final Nounish Project. The entire project will span over **8 months**.

This pilot project will offer opportunities to **20 Nounswardees** at **two universities**. In this initial stage, we have selected two target universities: *Hasanuddin University* and *State University of Makassar*. The aim is to facilitate progress monitoring for each awardee and minimize costs associated with the offline bootcamp. **The selection process** will be divided into *two stages*: **document selection**, which includes participants' experiences, followed by **online interview selection**. This selection stage will prioritize students who have demonstrated academic/non-academic achievements and active involvement in organizational leadership activities.


The implementation of Nouns University will focus on *fun learning*, fostering a *solid community*, and *creating projects that impact Nouns*. The expected output of this Nouns University project is to position Nounswardees as ***"Campus Ambassadors"*** within their respective educational backgrounds. This step is crucial for introducing Nouns to a wider audience. Additionally, by assigning individual projects to each Nounswardee, it is hoped to cultivate new active builders who contribute to the Nouns ecosystem. In supporting the nounswardees as campus ambassadors, we will provide **exclusive merchandise** to **20 selected nounswardees** and 10 other merchandise packages will be sold as limited edition.

## **University Tour**

As an initial step to **introduce a project**, it is necessary to conduct outreach to the target market. In this case, the **target market** for the Nouns University project is **university students**. Therefore, the first activity to be undertaken is a **University Tour**. This activity is planned to be held at *two universities*: *Hasanuddin University* and *State University of Makassar*. The event will feature a **talk show** that discusses a **general introduction to Nouns** and **the benefits of joining Nouns University**. Additionally, to attract participants, various mini-games with door prizes will also be organized.

The next goal to be achieved from the University Tour is the establishment of an *MOU for cooperation with the universities*. Without positive feedback from the universities, the Nouns University activities cannot proceed smoothly according to the initial plan. Furthermore, the MOU will serve as a foundation to strengthen the outreach to students, as it provides a mutually agreed-upon set of regulations to support Nouns University.

## **Education for Nounswardee**

After completing the *selection process* and choosing *20 nounswardees* who are eligible to join *Nouns University*, **educational activities** related to *crypto*, *blockchain*, *NFTs*, and *Nouns* will be conducted. These activities will take place **every two weeks** over a **continuous six-month period**. Each session will feature guest speakers who are experts in their respective fields. **The sessions** will be conducted **online for 10 meetings** and **offline for 2 meetings**. Offline sessions are chosen to facilitate better material delivery and to provide face-to-face learning opportunities with all awardees.

This educational initiative is crucial as it serves as a platform to *introduce the awardees to Nouns*. It will also provide an introduction and overview of the knowledge that can be used to explore the Nouns ecosystem. Furthermore, the education will be conducted with a *fun learning theme*, aiming to make it easier for awardees to absorb new knowledge and skills. The goal is for nounswardees to easily apply the knowledge they have acquired. Each session's theme will be designed to be as engaging as possible. The results of each session will be shared on social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to reach a wider audience of students across Indonesia and the world.

## **Nouns Scholarship**

Data from the *Central Bureau of Statistics in 2023* indicates that the ***Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER)*** for higher education in Indonesia reaches *31.45 percent*. This shows that *only approximately 31.45 percent* of the population *aged 18-22 years* pursue *higher education*. Many students feel that the **cost of education** is **very high**, leading them to decide to **discontinue their studies**. Tuition assistance has been provided by both the government and private sectors. However, in terms of percentage, it is still far behind compared to other Southeast Asian countries.

This situation underpins the desire to provide educational assistance through the **Nouns Scholarship** program. The assistance to be provided will be in the form of **Single Tuition Fee** payments amounting to **$600 USDC** for **one semester**. *The goa*l of the assistance provided by Nouns is to **alleviate tuition costs** so that students do not have to worry about the expenses related to university education for at least one semester. Additionally, this form of assistance can also serve as *motivation for the nounswardees* to be *more enthusiastic in pursuing their studies*.

## **Build with Nouns**

Parallel with the educational activities for the awardees, the ***"Build with Nouns"*** program will also be implemented. In this program, the **20 selected nounswardees** will receive funding of **$1,000 USDC.** All awardees will *develop a project aimed at promoting Nouns in accordance with their field of study*. As a requirement, awardees must submit a project proposal when registering. In the ****first month****, there will be a **screening of innovations** and **suggestions** will be provided for **the project plans**. Subsequently, the awardees will implement their projects over the next **five months**. Monthly control in the form of advice and corrections on the project progress will be conducted.

The output of this program is to provide a platform for the awardees to integrate the knowledge they have acquired during their studies with the creative freedom of CC0 NFT Nouns. Each innovation from the awardees will be appreciated, as students are expected to have *out-of-the-box ideas*. This program serves as the initial step for the awardees to contribute to the Nouns ecosystem. The final output of this program is to enable the awardees graduating from Nouns University to immediately embark on other larger-scale projects to support the advancement of Nouns DAO.

## **University Social Activity**

To support one of the ***Tri Dharma of Higher Education***, which is **community service**, we will be organizing a program aimed at serving the community through Nouns. **The implementation** of this program will take place at **each university**, so that awardees from the same university will **collaborate**. To support the implementation of these activities, each university will be provided with funding amounting to **$1,200 USDC**. This funding will be used entirely t*o create programs that have a direct impact on the community*, such as ***activities in orphanages***, ***environmental clean-ups***, ***teaching in community learning centers***, or ***other social activities***.

This program is crucial for shaping *the character of Nouns awardees into individuals who are compassionate towards other*s, and *to instill a spirit of dedication to serving the community*. The most important aspect of this program is to assist awardees in fulfilling the goals of the *Tri Dharma of Higher Education*. Therefore, in addition to contributing to Nouns, its outputs also directly benefit the community. Each activity will be accompanied by a team from Nouns University as representatives of Nouns DAO. Furthermore, there will be publications and documentation to introduce Nouns to a wider audience.

## **Nounswardee Final Project & Offline Boot-camp**

After the awardees have *received education*, *completed individual projects*, and collaborated with other awardees for *social activities*, the final program is the implementation of the **Offline Bootcamp** held for **2 days in Makassar, Indonesia**. This activity marks the culmination of the Nouns University program. After undergoing education for 6 months, all **20 nounswardees** will gather at a predetermined location. The series of activities in this program includes **a final lecture session by the Founder of Nouns University** and **sessions with other competent panelists**. Subsequently, there will be **presentation sessions** by all nounswardees regarding their **individual projects**, presentations from **universities**, and presentations of the **final project designs** previously prepared. On the last day, there will be **outbound activities** to strengthen the bonding among all Nounswardees.

**Final project** in Nouns University is to **collaboratively create a project and submit it to Nouns DAO**. Therefore, upon graduation from this program, the awardees are required to develop a design, starting from selecting the type of project to be created, conducting an analysis of the project's impact on Nouns, to budgeting and implementing it. Subsequently, the awardees will promote their project designs in **candidate proposals**. This project is a tangible manifestation of the success of Nouns University. After providing education and financial assistance, the feedback from the Nounswardees is to design a project that has a significant impact on Nouns DAO.

The entire series of activities is crucial for introducing the Nounswardees directly to each other, expanding their social networks. **This offline meeting will also facilitate evaluations and provide feedback on the projects that have been or will be implemented**. Outbound activities are also essential to leave a pleasant impression as the conclusion of the Nouns University program. During **the closing session**, the **top 3 Nounswardees** who will receive a total coaching fund of **$2500 USDC** will be announced. The assessment of the best awardees will be conducted throughout *the learning period*, *covering activity*, *innovation*, *discipline*, *teamwork*, *leadership*, and *the benefits of the individual projects undertaken*.

## **Deliverable**
In the implementation of ****Nouns University****, we will deliver the programs that we have planned as follows:
* **2 University Tour** activities on 2 campuses
* **20 Students** selected as *Nounswardee*
* **10 times** of Online learning to *Nounswardee*
* **2 times** Offline learning to *Nounswardee*
* **20 Nounish individual** projects
* **2 Nounish social projects** in 2 universities
* **1 Nounswardee offline bootcamp** activity
* **1 candidate proposal** from Nounswardee
* Production of **50+ social media content** on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube
* Reached **1k++ followers** on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Farcaster
* Organized **2 contests** on rounds.wtf

## **Fund Breakdown**

We are requesting **$109,670 USDC** to cover the Nouns University for **8 months** *(first month for University Tour, second to seventh month for Education and eighth month for Offline Boot-camp)* of work.
### **Transactions**
* **20% ($21,934 USDC)** of the total funding will be released upfront, to **nounsuniversity.eth**
* The next **50% ($54,835 USDC)** will be paid after we successfully selected 20 nounswardee, to **multisig wallet**.
* The last **30% ($32,901 USDC)** will be paid 2 months before the Offline Boot-camp is held, to **multisig wallet**.

Multisig address : **......**

Multisig signers **3/5** :
**[0xishal](https://twitter.com/0xishal)**
.......

## **Our Team**

This project will be chaired by **[0xishal](https://twitter.com/0xishal)** who has been contributing builders to the Nouns DAO since 2021. Starting from small proposals like [Nouns Holidays](https://twitter.com/0xishal/status/1608396054478852100/video/1), [Nouns Education and Entertainment](https://www.tiktok.com/@0xishal/video/7163161549195054362) and [Lil Nouns Trans Bag](https://twitter.com/0xishal/status/1607155005332819969/video/1). Then successfully became **Co-Director** of **[Three Bronouns](https://twitter.com/ThreeBronouns)** until finally ventured to become a **Director** of **[Prop 483: Bali Nouns Week 2024](https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/483)**.

In the implementation of Bali Nouns Week we worked with **3 freelancers** who greatly contributed to the success of the event. Now we will also bring those *3 freelancers* into our team. Armed with this experience, we are committed to continuing the success of Bali Nouns Week into Nouns University. Ups and downs, unyielding spirit, hard work, everything we will devote entirely to build this Nouns University into a place of scholarship, education and helping students to contribute to Nouns DAO.

## **Conclusion**
In conclusion, the Bali Nouns Week 2024 and subsequent activities have successfully introduced Nouns to students, fostering curiosity and enthusiasm for crypto, blockchain, and Nouns-related topics. The learnings from Nouns Week underscore the students' keen interest in continued engagement with Nouns, supported by incentives such as scholarships and contests. Looking ahead, the Nouns University Project aims to build on the success of Nouns Week by providing comprehensive education, scholarships, and practical project opportunities to students. Through targeted outreach, educational initiatives, and community engagement, we aspire to cultivate a new generation of leaders and builders within the Nouns ecosystem.

The implementation of Nouns University will involve a series of carefully planned activities, including the University Tour, educational sessions, scholarships, Build with Nouns program, university social activities, and the Nounish Final Project. Each of these components is designed to provide students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and support to become active contributors to the Nouns communit. Through dedication, collaboration, and innovation, we are confident in our ability to shape a brighter future for Nouns and its community, driving innovation and progress in the Nouns ecosystem.

**Respecfully**
### **[Nouns University Team]**