The 2024 regional affiliate champion junior division community projects from around the world submitted these summaries and promotional videos to showcase their impact. Each individual and student team applied our problem-solving process in their communities to create lasting change.
INDIVIDUAL
ATOMIC
ATOMIC – About Teaching our Mothers Important Curriculum. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Every year 18 million adolescent girls give birth while they are still in school and only a small percentage of these girls finish their schooling which affects their ability to reach their potential. This project focuses on the need to provide financial assistance to young mothers as a way to enable these women to continue with their education. My goal is to raise funds for the Supporting Teenagers with Education, Mothering and Mentoring (STEMM) program through community events such as trivia nights and raffles. This support will help these young women receive educational opportunities which are extremely valuable.
TEAMS
The Social Skills Squad
The Social Skills Squad is working to enhance social skills at Sinton Elementary in a variety of ways. They have formed a social skills club that meets every Tuesday morning to let students at Sinton Elementary practice using good social skills. The Social Skills squad also created a website that has video skits modeling proper school behavior, social skills games, a comic book, and a reporting system. The team also does weekly announcements of social skills tips and shout outs to students who show positive behavior.
Vocab Lab
Vocab Lab’s goal is to increase vocabulary exposure for all Rymfire students. Through activities like morphology Monday, wear a word Wednesday, and figurative language Friday, we saw an increase in vocabulary exposure and scores.
Next Chapter
Next Chapter is focused on bringing awareness to the issue of censorship in the form of book bans and working to ensure that all books remain available, so that they can act as the mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.
Project Keep It Clean
In our world today, there is growing environmental problem, trash management. Our team, the Clean-Up Crew, created Project Keep It Clean to help combat this growing issue. Our goal this year has been to educate our community on the importance of portraying good trash management practices. By teaching others about the 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle), along with how to improve their current trash management practices, we have seen a positive impact on our community! We believe Project Keep It Clean’s actions will continue to make an impact on our environment for years to come!
Teach About the Beach
The Teach About the Beach project aims to educate Ukrainian refugees who have moved to Australia since the Russia-Ukraine war to learn about beach safety in Australia’s unique conditions. The aim is to help them to be safe and confident at the beach so they can enjoy the many physical and mental health benefits of enjoying Sydney’s beautiful beaches as they recover from the trauma of their country becoming a war zone. Our picture books, website and partnership with Ukrainian organisations is making a real difference to Ukrainian individuals in our community.
Team WINS (Welcoming In New Students)
Team WINS (Welcoming In New Students) wanted to help create a welcoming environment at Rymfire Elementary School so that new students have a positive experience. To do this, WINS walked new students to class on their first day of school and gave the new students a welcome baggie with a free ice cream ticket, snack ticket, school menu, track (reward) tickets, and school supplies. WINS also made a virtual tour of Rymfire and Welcome videos from the staff so new students could see our campus and meet our teachers before even starting school.
Best Beautifiers
Best Beautifiers in an effort to promote community and school interaction and create a more welcoming atmosphere along the main street of our town, the Best Beautifiers have decided to adopt the 400 to 600 block of San Patricio Avenue. We will be adding a rock garden, decorative planters, trash receptacles, and festive yard art to promote various holidays throughout the year. Our hope is that a welcoming street front in front of our school will engage community involvement and increase Pirate Pride.
S.T.O.P. “Slaying the Opioid Problem”
We are a group from Southeastern Kentucky on a mission to help reduce the impact of substance abuse in our area, so we created S.T.O.P. (“Slaying the Opioid Problem”), which focuses on helping those affected find the help and services they need. We made a website using the information gathered through research and community partnerships. In addition, we have established partnerships with regional veterinarians, animal shelters, and animal rescues. These partnerships have enabled us to work with the district court representative to bring emotional support therapy animals into recovery facilities, offering additional support to those in need.
