CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Most people see issues that affect people on a large scale and feel too overwhelmed by the problem to help, but Sinton's Future Problem Solvers aren't most people.
These elementary- and middle-school students are tackling problems that are directly affecting their friends and neighbors, and providing thoughtful solutions that are helping change lives.
Future Problem Solving Program International is a global organization and competition whose objective is to find actionable solutions to real-life problems. Eleven countries have FPS programs; 29 states compete in the US, and 17 school districts represent Texas. Who’s the best of the best representing the entire Lone Star State? Not just one, but two groups of students from Sinton ISD.
Both the of the teams at Sinton Elementary School and E. Merle Smith Middle School are lead by third-grade teacher Elizabeth Nieto and her mother, who is a retired educator for Sinton ISD, Maggie Gibson.
According to Nieto, some schools reserve this organization for students they deem as “gifted and talented,” but Sinton ISD welcomes all students who are willing to commit their already limited time to improving the lives of their peers.
The elementary-school team is made up of students in the fourth and fifth grades, and they decided on the problem they were going to solve by identifying various issues that were having a negative impact on their campus.
"We found problems around the school, like writing in the bathroom stalls, toilet paper everywhere, students fighting," one student named Charity said.
After compiling a list of these negative behaviors, the students considered a big-picture look at what the underlying problem was that was leading their peers to make poor decisions.
They found that, "43% of students at Sinton Elementary feel uncomfortable interacting with other students,” making the underlying issue a lack of good social skills.
To solve the issue, the young team — which since finding its main problem has dubbed itself the "Social Skills Squad" — came up with multiple ways to encourage student interaction, many of which highlighted the strengths of their team members.
One tech-savvy team member, Ian, created a website where content created by other team members can go to educate students on how to be a good friend. Another, Mia, created a comic book telling a story of how its characters develop better social skills.
The team also has a regularly updated news article on its website, and a Social Skills Club that meets twice a week for kids to talk and play games together before class. The team even wrote a catchy song about the club to the tune of "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang!
When asked what their favorite part of the organization was, the students didn't say the competitions where they present their work — even though they usually take the top prize — but instead, said creating the products that end up helping their peers.
The Smith Middle School FPS team is made up of students from sixth to eighth grade. Last year’s team of only four team members, which won first place in the state and international competition, now has help to defend its title.
This year’s team created 'Project S.O.S (Solve Our Stress)' to address high levels of stress both students and faculty at the school expressed to having.
“We had a survey at the beginning of the year to see if the stress levels affected our students at our school, as well as the faculty members, and that gave us a percentage of what they were feeling and thinking,” team member Ani said.
To help with this problem, the team created two wellness rooms on campus: One for students and one for faculty, where tools such as aromatherapy, coloring books, and sweet treats are available to help people relive their stress.
'Feelings boxes' have been placed around the school and encourage everyone to anonymously write out negative emotions that are bothering them -- a technique scientifically proven to help decrease stress levels.
The team also created a website with information about their project, as well as tips for relieving stress can be found. The school counselor has made the website available on her Google Classroom.
“So you write down what you’re feeling stressed about and you put it in a little box that has a slit on the top and you put the little note in there and it’s not read, it’s anonymous,” student Jackston said.
“FPS means dedication and hard work and teamwork,” another student, Alvin, said. “It’s not a one man thing, it’s a group thing. It takes a lot of brains for just one project and it’s not easy at all.”
Both teams are thrilled to travel to Indiana in June and present their projects to other teams from around the world. They said many are excited to meet students from Texas—they exchange little gifts to each other -- stuffed koalas from students from Australia, and cowboy hats from Texas students -- are some of the most sought after.
Nieto and Gibson expressed extreme pride for the success of their teams and the care the students have in making others’ lives better.
“I’m just mostly impressed that this is 100 percent their project they thought up,” Nieto said. “They spent their free time that they didn’t you know have to do, they don’t get a grade on the report card from me or Ms. Gibson for this, they are volunteering to be in this and I think they really just care about their community and want to make it better.”
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