MTV to Students: Pimp Your School

MTV: Music Television wants high-school students to retool their schools.

The network Thursday announced the newest component of its “think: Education” initiative, the “Think Over Your School Challenge,” in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and What Kids Can Do.

“The challenge encourages high-school-age viewers to be proactive in their own education and propose how they would ‘think over,’ or transform, part of their school to expand academic opportunities and better prepare fellow students for college and work,” MTV said in a prepared statement.

The network will air a special Thursday at 10:30 p.m. (EST), and viewers can log onto its Web site (www.mtv.com) to take a 20-question quiz assessing their own education and write a 250-word essay describing how they would make over part of their high school.

“Virtually every young person sees a college education as key to getting ahead in life, but the reality is that for many high-school students, especially poor and minority youth, the dream goes unfulfilled,” MTV vice president of public affairs Ian Rowe said in a prepared statement.

“This challenge, along with the complete Think Over tool kit, will enable all young people to have more resources to play a larger role in shaping their school and educational experience,” he added.