The 2026 regional affiliate champion middle division community projects from around the world submitted these summaries and promotional videos to showcase their service learning impact. Each individual and student team applied our problem-solving process in their communities to create lasting change.
Blue Morpho
Our community project, “Blue Morpho”, fights consumer throw-away culture and reduces food waste. We collect leftover food scraps from the school cafeteria, composting them to create a rich soil enhancer, and donate the compost to our local community garden. Our project name comes from the blue morpho butterfly, because since a butterfly’s metamorphosis has a caterpillar turn into something beautiful, our project transforms food waste into valuable compost for our community.
FPS Ohio – Representing Solon Middle School (Coached by Gayle Hauptman)
Calm Mode
School-related stress is a major issue in Spain, with rising levels of anxiety and emotional problems among adolescents, especially girls. At Coruña British International School, limited psychological resources and the sudden transition to exams increases student stress and negatively affect academic performance. Many students feel unsupported or are reluctant to seek help. Addressing mental health needs would improve well-being, learning outcomes, and the school environment, benefiting students, families, and the wider community.
Spain (FPS Open Affiliate) – Representing Coruna British International School (Coached by Kerryn Koh, Sandra Fernández)
CentSafari
Early access to financial education is extremely important for future financial security and success. CentSafari is an initiative designed to introduce elementary school students to financial literacy concepts through engaging content delivered through interactive workshops. CentSafari has trained over 120 students, improving their financial literacy score from 15% to 98.5%. With over 11,000 elementary students graduating every year, CentSafari is evolving to scale and sustain its efforts by introducing the CentSafari ambassador program, incorporating itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and optimizing its technology to scale to train over hundreds of students each year.
FPS North Carolina – Representing Ardrey Kell High School (Coached by Poonam Arora)
CHP Lends a Helping Hand
CHP leadership is committed to lend a helping hand to their neighboring school, PGM, by supporting students both in and out of the classroom. From providing year-round “weekender bags” filled with food to ensure students have meals when school is not in session, to organizing four major drives: Halloween costume, winter gear, hygiene kits, and backpack school supplies, our student leadership team is dedicated to meeting real needs with compassion and care. By focusing on small, consistent, and sustainable acts of kindness, we hope to create a lasting impact that strengthens well-being, inclusion, and opportunity for every student in PGM to succeed.
FPS New Jersey – Representing Cedar Hill Preparatory School (Coached by Sangeeta Lekhi, Mary Blair Duncan, Nan Menon)
Civics Explained By Teens
In Harlan County, there is a problem of teens lacking civic engagement. In order to solve this, we at C.E.B.T. have hosted many events demonstrating topics like elections, voting, and how laws are made. We have made these possible through support of stakeholders who did things like giving quotes, which are visible on our website. We plan to continue this in the future, continuing to educate teens about how to know the system and shape the future.
FPS Kentucky – Representing Harlan Middle School (Coached by Chris Howard)
Count on Us
Because of the lack of resources in marginalized communities, students are discouraged by their lack of growth and the expectation that they display their knowledge in various assessments. Project Count On Us strives to tackle this issue in public schools within Orange County. Through teacher workshops, math festivals, a podcast, and engaging sessions with students at various community centers, we hope to reach those who need math support the most. Our goal is to inspire more children to expand their horizons with math, not only in school, but beyond.
FPS Florida – Representing Lake Highland Prep (Coached by Scott Bray)
Financial Literacy
Our goal was to increase awareness of financial literacy to our classmates as many of them do not have any basic understanding of budgeting and managing their money. The culmination of our project is a Financial Literacy Day in which all students grades 6-8 will be given a job, create a pay stub, purchase a car, budget groceries, lease an apartment, and even budget in the cost of streaming services, energy drinks, and other luxuries that we take for granted as middle schoolers. This is important not only for our future selves, but also to help our students understand the finances involved when their parent purchases something as simple as an iced coffee for them on the way to school and how quickly those items can interfere with a monthly budget.
FPS Alabama – Representing Jefferson County IB Middle School (Coached by Delaura Downs)
FRESH (Fostering Health, Education, and Sanitary Habits) Start
FRESH Start is a student-led initiative at West Carter Middle School that addresses hygiene insecurity by providing discreet, accessible hygiene stations throughout the school. Using research and local data, the team replaced a request-based system with an open-access model to reduce stigma and improve student confidence. Over three and a half months, more than 1,500 items were distributed, demonstrating consistent need and impact. Supported by community partnerships, data tracking, and sustainability planning, the project promotes student well-being, equity, and engagement while offering a scalable model for other schools.
FPS Kentucky – Representing West Carter Middle School (Coached by Nate Shelton, Tara Rogers)
Hype Hazard
Hype Hazard is a student-led community awareness initiative created by five eighth-grade students who are passionate about health, athletics, and making positive change in their community. The goal is to raise awareness about the potential risks associated with energy drink consumption among young people—especially student athletes—and to encourage safer choices through education and responsible action.
FPS Texas – Representing Paris Junior High School (Coached by Eva Dickey)
Money Minds
Research and surveys at two Central Florida high schools showed that many students were unprepared for financial independence because financial literacy education was often inaccessible or unengaging. To address this, we founded the Money Minds Foundation. We launched an eight-week pilot workshop at Evans High School featuring gamified activities and developed an online reality-checker tool to demonstrate real living costs. Later, we partnered with Seacoast Bank, hosted a “Game of Life” event with them, and launched an Instagram challenge to raise awareness and encourage students to engage with our reality-checker tool and learn essential financial literacy skills for adulthood.
FPS Florida – Representing Lake Highland Prep (Coached by Ingrid Grenci)
Pet Pals on Patrol: Pet Care Volunteer Network
Pet Pals is a Charlotte-based volunteer initiative that helps pet owners who are unable to care for their animals due to illness, injury, or mobility challenges. Founded by students, the group provides support with everyday pet care—ensuring pets stay healthy while owners focus on recovery. By connecting compassionate volunteers with neighbors in need, Pet Pals on Patrol keeps pets in loving homes and strengthens community bonds.
FPS North Carolina – Representing Alexander Graham Middle School, Trinity Episcopal School, Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School (Coached by Ashley Hall, Rebecca De Luna)
Project Align
Project Align is a community initiative passionate about creating healthier lifestyles for tweens and teens by helping them raise awareness about their posture. This project has 3 main solutions: awareness stickers, pop-up bookmarks and workshops/infographics. How we measure the impact and success of our project is through the workshops/infographics given, awareness stickers distributed, as well as pop-up bookmarks implemented. The goal is to continue giving workshops beyond April of 2026 and make a greater impact on our targeted audience. This project hopes to inspire more teens and tweens to keep up or adjust to better posture, which will benefit them greatly in their daily life and in the future.
FPS Texas – Representing Glenda Dawson High School (Coached by Lorena Gonzalez, Noah Dinh)
Project Amaryllis
In Singapore and beyond, our team identified a gap in awareness and support for neurotypical siblings of persons with special needs, often called “Sibs” or “glass children.” Project Amaryllis sought to address this by creating opportunities to build supportive systems that encourage mutual peer support. Through peer-to-peer and senior-junior support, we engaged Sibs in meaningful workshops designed to foster social support networks and provide psychoeducation. In addition, we empowered these siblings to share their lived experiences through initiatives such as the Human Library and Feature Book, amplifying their voices and raising awareness of this often overlooked community.
FPS Singapore – Representing Raffles Girls School (Coached by Audrey Chen)
Project Breakthrough
Because 23.9% of students in the nation have reported moderate to severe symptoms of depression, and only 20% of those depressed adolescents seek help, how might I, a future problem solver of 2025-2026, encourage adolescents within the WWP community to actively create a safe space for depression, so they can create a future where the stigma surrounding depression is reduced in 2025 and beyond?
FPS New Jersey – Representing Thomas Grover Middle School (Coached by Justin Dolcimascolo-Garrett)
Project BRIDGE
Project BRIDGE utilizes a dual-pronged approach to reverse the 22% decline in Multilingual Learner (MLL) academic progress through academic support and community integration. The academic prong provides translated instructional resources and a peer-tutoring program to bridge classroom language gaps. Simultaneously, the community prong combats social isolation by transforming MLL students into cultural leaders during events like MLL Heritage Day. By combining these pillars, the project ensures students gain the linguistic tools necessary for academic success while developing the sense of belonging and confidence required to thrive within the broader school environment.
FPS California – Representing Hopkins Middle School (Coached by Brian Anderson)
Project Cybersense
Cybersecurity is a big problem across the Northshore District area, especially among students. Several studies and surveys have been conducted that reflect the issues of kids maintaining their integrity in cyber platforms. Operation CyberSense is a project with the goal of helping secure students’ online safety across our School District by spreading awareness through engaging presentations, assemblies, and workshops. Throughout several months, we will implement stages of the project, such as applications to improve understanding. Overall, this will help students cultivate a stronger understanding of digital maturity.
FPS Washington – Representing Leota Middle School (Coached by Matthew Bohannan)
Project H.E.A.L.
Project H.E.A.L. encourages healthy and balanced lifestyles to students in our community. Through community outreach, informational presentations, organization partnerships, and online platforms, our team was able to maximize our impact on youth. We organized and attended many events to promote healthy habits, including the Pearland Farmers Market, AYLUS volunteering, SPORTIC (tennis lessons), presentations at various schools, fundraising bake sales, and more. We also set up a bulletin board in our school to raise interest among our peers. We created a resulting survey with 200+ responses from students in our school, showing the growth of related health awareness in our community.
FPS Texas – Representing Pearland Junior High West (Coached by Lisa Shapiro)
Project LOL: Lighting Our Locals
Project LOL (Lighting Our Locals) is working to raise awareness and educate its community about the risks and dangers of inadequate street lighting in and around the area of Bothell. To better understand the problem, Project LOL conducted a community survey to ask residents how they feel about the current light situation, Project LOL also interviewed city officials from the Public Works Department to understand their side of the story and collect helpful pieces of information that supports Project LOL. So far, Project LOL has made an Android application which works to submit reports about areas with serious lighting concerns. It works like this: the user can take a picture, fill in the location, select the issue type and the safety level, and submit. To add. Project LOL also created brochures to hand out to residents and people ongoing at the nearest Fred Meyer in Bothell, this action helped to educate people about these risks offline, helping it become more memorable. In addition, the project highlights the importance of improving communication between residents and city officials by making it easier to report issues quickly and efficiently. The application serves as a practical tool that can increase community involvement and ensure that poorly lit areas are identified and addressed more effectively. Overall, Project LOL combines research, community outreach, and technology to create a realistic and scalable solution for improving pedestrian safety in Bothell.
FPS Washington – Representing Skyview Middle School (Coached by Umalakshmi Chidambaram)
Project Oculus
With the rise of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), online scams have become increasingly prevalent and sophisticated. The elderly are disproportionately affected by this, as they may lack the ability to protect themselves due to behavioural gaps, financial and emotional vulnerability and unfamiliarity with technology. Therefore, Project Oculus aims to help them develop long-term support networks that foster lifelong digital security, so that they can stay digitally resilient against evolving scams. Our initiatives are categorised under the following areas: Direct Outreach to the elderly, Community Outreach to the general public and Institutional Engagement to explore long-term solutions supporting this cause.
FPS Singapore – Representing Raffles Girls School (Coached by Jassie Teo)
Project Paws
Our project was inspired by our shared love of animals. We are a group of four eighth-grade students who came together to create Project Paws. We have been concerned about the growing number of pets in our community that are being rehomed or abandoned. Through our research, we discovered that many animals are surrendered to welfare organisations on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. In response, we have worked to address this problem by raising awareness in our community about responsible pet ownership. We have developed several initiatives and have actively supported our local animal welfare centres.
FPS Australia – Representing Pacific Lutheran College (Coached by Linda Sydes)
Project RDB: Restoring Digital Balance
Project Restoring Digital Balance (RDB) aims to educate teenagers in the Plano-Carrollton area on the negative academic, physical, and psychological impact of digital overuse, and provides practical tools to help students establish healthy digital habits so that they can live more balanced lives and reach their full potential. Through community outreach events, conducting presentations at local libraries and student clubs, creating an educational website, distributing RDB Bookmarks and digital MASTER cards, attending school board meetings, and organizing community digital RESET Days – Project RDB has been successful in meaningfully raising awareness of the issue and empowering students make better choices.
FPS Texas – Representing Trinity Christian Academy (Coached by Chunhong Zhang)
Project S.P.A.R.K. Safety Prevention Awareness Responsibility Knowledge
Project S.P.A.R.K. (Safety, Prevention, Awareness, Responsibility, Knowledge) is improving fire preparedness in Sinton, Texas. A community survey showed 44.21% of residents felt unprepared for a fire, so our team partnered with city leaders and the volunteer fire department to share practical guidance. We created monthly fire safety tips for utility bills, designed seven handouts in English and Spanish, and distributed them at events, schools, churches, restaurants, and local businesses. We also promote CodeRED by helping residents sign up for real-time emergency alerts. Presentations and art contests build kid-friendly awareness that students share with their families.
FPS Texas – Representing E.M. Smith Middle School (Coached by Cori Gandara)
Project Stitch Space
Project Stitch Space addressed declining fine motor skills at Rymfire Elementary by launching an after-school crochet club. Despite initial funding and registry challenges, the project improved the skills of approximately 25 students. Teachers reported neater handwriting and increased academic independence among participants.
FPS Florida – Representing Indian Trails Middle School (Coached by Beth Blumengarten, Hannah Anderson, Neil Kopach)
Project SWIPE
Due to the fact that 81.2% of students in the West-Windsor Plainsboro School District admit they do not always verify the safety or accuracy of social media content before acting on it, and 62.3% of teenagers make uninformed or unsafe choices influenced by misleading information, trends, and peer pressure, Project S.W.I.P.E.’s focus is to guide students (ages 11–16) in our township to make informed decisions when engaging with social media content, so they can navigate the online world safely in 2025 and beyond.
FPS New Jersey – Representing Thomas Grover Middle School (Coached by Justin Dolcimascolo-Garrett)
Project True View
Project True View is dedicated to helping adolescents with self-image and inspiring them to bring awareness to their feelings. After teaching psychoeducation lessons on self-perception, body image, shame versus guilt, and some Internal Family Systems theory, we help them express their emotions through a choice of Kandi bracelet-making and poetry, dance and body percussion, song-writing and sculptures, and photography and collage. We expected engagement from the sixth graders at Palm Desert Charter Middle School but found something more: joy.
FPS California – Representing Palm Desert Charter Middle School (Coached by Leanne Di Bella)
Read Across Wahluke
Read Across Wahluke is a project that aims to boost reading motivation and literacy in the Wahluke School District. When it was found out that only 28% of the students surveyed had fun reading, we were inspired to act. The methods we employed include surveys, availability of library facilities, incentives for reading, and literacy classes. We want to ensure that there is a 30% increase in the voluntary reading activities of Wahluke students within a year.
FPS Washington – Representing Wahluke Junior High (Coached by Blake Beyer)
Ready, Set, Work!
Ready Set Work (RSW) is a student-led initiative from Indian Trails Middle School designed to increase career exposure. By interviewing over 20 experts, launching a podcast, and hosting career fairs, the team helped reduce student career uncertainty from 46.2% to 11.9%, reaching over 4,000 people globally.
FPS Florida – Representing Indian Trails Middle School (Coached by Beth Blumengarten, Hannah Anderson, Neil Kopach)
Recharge the Brain
Project Recharge the Brain hopes to encourage students to get more sleep through a variety of educational strategies.
FPS Illinois – Representing Westview Hills Middle School (Coached by Samuel Williams)
The Page Turners
The Page Turners project promoted reading in primary aged children in our school community. We aimed to improve student engagement in literature, which would, in turn, foster a love of reading in these children, amidst their busy lives and a world full of easily accessible technology. Our actions were aimed at promoting literature and reading, making reading feel less of a chore and more of a choice. We implemented some exciting and creative initiatives, which had a positive impact on the student’s motivation to engage in literature and enjoy reading. It was a great success!
FPS Australia – Representing Ravenswood School for Girls (Coached by Fiona Carroll)
Upper Valley Indoor Air Quality
This project addresses the lack of federal, state, and local indoor air quality (IAQ) regulations despite evidence that poor IAQ negatively affects people’s physical health, cognitive performance, and learning. Students measured high school classroom CO₂ and VOC levels, analyzed data, and educated faculty and staff about practical ways to improve air quality. Their work impacted more than 750 people who spend over seven hours each day in the building. They created a monitor checkout system so teachers can test classrooms independently and published an op-ed in the local newspaper, reaching 16,500 daily readers across 50 towns in the region.
New Hampshire (FPS Massachusetts) – Richmond Middle School, Crossroads Academy (Coached by Kate Hilton)
