William Brown
Baxter High School, Altoona
Recycling Resources for Teachers
Teachers are unsung heroes who often have to buy their own class materials. This project aimed to reduce this burden by offering a “store” of supplies. Many supplies were donated by retiring teachers while new supplies were purchased through community donations. Many teachers were positively impacted and I am continuing my advocacy for education funding by communicating with Iowa legislators.
Mallory Carslake
Pleasant Valley High School, Bettendorf
The Spartan Spotlighters
My initiative, project spotlight, grants students with special needs an opportunity to perform a musical alongside peers at their high school. New bonds are formed and facilitated within the program by pairing a student mentor with a participant to act as a helping hand and friendly face both inside and outside of the performance space.
Andrew Dong
West Senior High School, Iowa City
Iowa City VA Hospital Psychological First Aid Training Program
My project aims to spread Red Cross Psychological First Aid, a mental health education course. Throughout the past few months, I have worked on organizing a Red Cross Psychological First Aid Training workshop at my local retirement home, where I have helped train senior residents on the importance of mental well-being and self-care strategies.
Marygrace Fairchild
Bishop Heelan Catholic High School, Sioux City
Sally’s and Patty’s Little Laundromat Library
Sally’s and Patty’s Little Laundromat Libraries will decrease dropout rates while helping children grow in their vocabularies, academic knowledge, and imagination. I have installed and stocked laundromat libraries in the Tristate area of Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska also known as Siouxland. These little libraries give access and encouragement to anyone who wishes to increase literacy. This empowers my community.
Madelaine Fischer
Anamosa High School, Anamosa
Can You See Yourself in Stem?
‘Can You See Yourself in STEM?’ is an educational program that combines interactive lessons with hands-on activities in order to raise awareness about diversity in who can succeed in STEM fields and the types of careers that are available. My program seeks to promote curiosity and confidence in youth, helping them see what they want to be.
Jacob Forney
Valley High School, West Des Moines
Jacob Jams with Friends: The Next Generation
I started a fundraiser seven years ago, collecting and donating tips for Blank Children’s Hospital by performing at the Downtown Farmer’s Market. My project revolves around inspiring other young people and artists to start their own fundraisers. I did this through inviting artists to perform at my own Jam and presenting at multiple schools about my project.
Keegan Herzmann
Cedar Ralls High School, Cedar Falls
Cedar Falls Youth Commission
I am working on creating a youth commission with the City of Cedar Falls and Mayor Green. This youth commission will be the voice of all of the youth in Cedar Falls. The youth commission will have 11 youth and 3 adults to advise on issues affecting the youth.
Olivia Marti
Waukon High School, Waukon
Agvance Opportunity
Agvance Opportunity is a non-profit based in Waukon, IA, started by students who want to advance agriculture and help others through research inspired by Herbert Hoover as the Great Humanitarian. Our largest contribution to the field of agriculture is through our community support efforts and agricultural research conducted to try and solve important world issues.
Joseph Semelroth
Xavier High School, Cedar Rapids
Iowa Mock Trial 101
Mock trial is an extracurricular activity that fosters legal insight, critical thinking, and public speaking. Yet, for novices, beginning mock trial may appear daunting. Ideally, mock trial requires both teacher and attorney coaching, a hurdle for many teams. To bridge this gap, I created Mock Trial 101, a free online course, providing equitable coaching for teams with or without attorney-coaches.
Kritika Sharma
Ames High School, Ames
My Perfect Period
The Period box is an initiative to assist reducing period poverty in Ames. Feminine hygiene products are incredibly expensive and difficult to access, therefore the Period Box attempts to distribute monthly supply boxes to those who can’t afford them.
Rithvika Sivaprakash
Prairie High School, Cedar Rapids
Food Pantry Management System
Prairie Cares provides boxes of food and basic needs packed by students in the special education program to families in the community. To help support this initiative, I developed websites for families to enter in customized requests.
Jetsamany Solis
West Liberty High School, West Liberty
You Are Not Alone: Hope for Youth Experiencing Homelessness
My project is about Homelessness in Youth. I inform teachers the signs, causes, and effects of homelessness in youth and how to help a student struggling with this. I also inform teachers of what kind of emotions and feelings a student might have and how to help students if they need counseling or sharing resources making their situation less stressful.
Leah Thomas
Valley High School, Clive
Gemini Tutoring
Gemini Tutoring is an educational website where students can connect with upperclassmen for academic assistance. Students have the opportunity to work with peers who have recently mastered the subject, giving them relevant insight and tips that teachers and other online websites cannot provide. Additionally, Gemini Tutoring is 100% free and has flexible scheduling, granting all students access to educational support.
Anika Yadav
Waukee High School, Waukee
Let’s Innovate: Girls’ Entrepreneurship Summit
I plan to organize a free annual 6-week entrepreneurship program to bring awareness of entrepreneurship to girls (ages 14-22) in Des Moines. Partnering with local businesses, the Incubator aims to cultivate entrepreneurial interest through teaching business fundamentals and expert mentorship. The goal is to foster innovation, empowering girls with comprehensive education to manage successful small businesses in the long run.
Dragon Zheng
Linn-Mar High School, Robins
Empowering Youth Voters: Increase Voter Registration and Turnout
The young adults (18-29 years old) bloc have had the lowest percentage of voter turnout, in Iowa during the past presidential election that gap is more than 20%. Some states have successfully closed this gap. Ways to do this include having young people encourage their peers, hosting voter registration events where young people are at, and recognizing young voters.