Averi Brady
Adel-DeSoto-Minburn High School, Adel
Home Sweet…School? Helping Students Find Their Place at a New School
My goal is to calm the anxieties associated with getting to know a new student. I plan to do this by creating a welcome committee at my high school. This committee will make it more of a social norm to welcome new students. New students will experience a better transition, giving them a more stable foundation for learning.
Alana Corwin
Dike-New Hartford High School, Dike
Innovative Iowans
I will create mini-documentaries about citizens of Iowa who have contributed to history or have motivational stories. This, in turn, will create interest and pride in Iowan history and culture, something that will inspire future generations of Iowans, inspiring them to make an impact in the world.
Madison Craig
Solon High School, Solon
Bridging the Generations Through Technology
In order to preserve this historical knowledge and to continue the Midwest Old Threshers tradition, we need to capture this historical knowledge and excite/involve future generations. This can be done with videos, QR codes, and the Midwest Old Threshers’ website. My goal is to begin the project and have multiple exhibits ready for the 2021 Midwest Old Threshers Reunion. My hope is that the initiation of this project will inspire volunteers to participate, and continue to add exhibits in future years.
Drew Dunlavey
Central Dewitt High School, Delmar
Drew’s Gourmet Cheesecake Food Truck Trailer
My project is to create a Food Truck Trailer. My food truck trailer will begin with selling mini gourmet cheesecakes. The food truck trailer will expand my current very small business into a successful enterprise. I will purchase and fabricate a bumper hitch trailer to accommodate a window, counter, generator, freezer and refrigerator. The project allows me to grow my business to cater large events, Farmer`s Markets, Festivals and other various events.
Makayla Gasper
West Delaware High School, Manchester
Not Trash
I will implement a simple compost system that encourages urgency in students to be a driving force in creating sustainable habits at West Delaware High School. My main goal of the project is to use this compost system as a way to share what I have learned about composting in order to create an environmentally conscious learning environment for West Delaware students, and create a viable strategy that could be utilized by other schools.
Sydney Herzmann
Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls
Mission Playground: Cedar Valley Soccer Club
My project idea is for a playground to benefit the children and families of the attendees of the Cedar Valley Soccer Complex. A goal of the project is to keep children safe and entertained while other family members can watch a child`s game or even play. The project helps put ease to parents` minds knowing that their children will be in a safe known area as well as give children exercise.
Silas Hoffman
Muscatine High School, Muscatine
Filling Every Stomach and Mind – Robotic Farming; Leveraging Technology To Feed the World
My early love for vegetable gardening and my later love for robotics has come together in this project. Last year during Covid-19 I spent some time researching robotics applications and discovered robotic farming. My expanded goals include driving increased interest/participation in agriculture classes, 4-H clubs, Future Farmers of America, and the high school robotics team.
Andrew King
Gilbert High School, Ames
Gilbert High School Building Trades Club
The most important part of my project is to explain to students that they have opportunities in the trades that may help them in their future. The best way to do this is by creating a club that will give them volunteering opportunities and opportunities that they may not get in a traditional Building Trades class. The club will bring in local construction companies to give presentations to members of the club about their daily lives, and what a “day in the workplace” would be like.
Sydney Mast
North Polk High School, Ankeny
Spirit League
My goal is to create a cheerleading squad for special needs individuals called the Spirit League, which will cheer for Miracle League of Ankeny. Miracle League is an organization created to give kids and adults with special needs a chance to play baseball/softball in a safe environment. This squad would give special needs kids another opportunity to be a part of an active group, letting them express their individuality, and at the same time, be a part of the community.
Ellen McDonough
Dowling Catholic High School, Des Moines
Stocked On Stocks
Stocked on Stocks is a podcast available to stream on all platforms, created by teens, targeted at teens or those inexperienced with the stock market in general. The podcast would be targeted at increasing the financial literacy of minority groups and those most often affected by poverty, or the least involved in the stock market, in hopes of leveling the large disparities between the rich and poor. However, any individual that listened to and learned from the podcast would be appreciated.
Raina Pfeifer
Iowa City West High School, Coralville
Back To Our Roots
Hydroponics systems allow for gardens to be grown vertically, indoors, and without the need for soil, pesticides, and much space. Hydroponics can solve a myriad of environmental issues such as soil depletion, land use, and carbon emissions. By learning to build a hydroponics system, it would create a medium through which urban students can find ways to connect with agriculture in an innovative and hands-on manner.
Amira Qidwai
Iowa City West High School, Coralville
Thinking Flexibly: Enhancing Iowan Geography Education
My project will build an expandable geography curriculum for 7th-10th grade students and include topics far beyond the basic place-name-location geography most commonly taught in our schools. My goal is to design a full plan of study that can be taught at its most basic level in just 3-4 days or expanded into a full month of lessons.
Bryson Smith
Adel Desoto Minburn High School, Adel
Rain For A Change
In this project, I will implement automatic irrigation systems which I design into local community gardens. This system uses dribblet irrigation lines to automatically water the garden using rainwater when triggered by moisture sensors in the soil. The goals of this project include increasing the productivity of the garden, reducing volunteer time, and promoting conservation through rainwater and solar energy.
Nathan Steimel
Valley High School, West Des Moines
Greenhouse Restoration
My project seeks to restore the greenhouse attached to Valley High School, create a Greenhouse Club that will provide educational activities to high school students utilizing the restored area, and build outdoor garden plots to grow plants to maturity. The Greenhouse Club will focus on contacting horticultural and agricultural professionals to provide information about various STEM careers.