Carlie Miranda, a rising Webster Groves High School senior, explains her project for the MyImpact Challenge Showcase to Patricia Zahn, UMSL’s director of community engagement and outreach. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
Carlie Miranda is a runner. The rising Webster Groves High School senior loves to go for runs around old Webster Groves, Missouri, and she quickly started to notice something – the lack of trash cans accessible to pedestrians and members of the community. So, for her MyImpact Challenge project, she developed a plan to implement more public critter-proof trash cans along heavy traffic roads in Webster Groves.
“I want to make a bigger impact on the community and keep the environment safe and healthy,” Miranda said. “People stay engaged with our community and are proud to have it clean while also making it accessible. I want to help increase the number of people out there walking and interacting with our whole community.”
On May 19, Miranda and about two dozen other local high schoolers presented their community service projects at the MyImpact Challenge Showcase for Missouri at the Saint Louis Zoo, hosted by the College of Education’s Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri–St. Louis in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute. The event, which built on the momentum from a previous event in April with Sen. Brian Williams, featured tri-fold displays on pressing topics such as ableism in American schools, the housing crisis, food deserts and more.
“With this being community service-driven, we’re here to support the kids doing the good work for the community, making a difference, and seeing how that can impact their community as a whole,” said Katie Price, the Center for Character and Citizenship’s office support associate. “I want them to see how far their community service is going, and how it really is making an impact. This isn’t just a project; this is something that’s making the world a better place and right now, we all could use that. I want them to feel like what they’re doing is valuable because it is.”
Students created tri-fold presentations on pressing topics such as ableism in American schools, the housing crisis, food deserts and more.
The civic engagement contest highlighted the creativity, leadership and impact of students ages 16 to 19 who are actively engaged in service, volunteerism or entrepreneurship in their communities. A group of judges, including several with the CCC’s Sue Shear Leadership Academy, evaluated the projects on how well they communicated key messages, clearly and persuasively articulated their pitch and displayed good public speaking skills. First prize went to a project on law enforcement in communities by Greta Stucke and Kiran Bergfeld; second prize went to a project on juvenile detention center libraries by Lojin Ibnoucheikh and Savannah Ewing of the Youth Advisory Board; third prize went to a project on safety for cyclists on public roadways by Owen Choi and fourth prize went to a project on education by Reagen Scott.
Miranda said she’s been in touch with the mayor of Webster Groves to discuss pricing, locations and overall implementation of her plan to make throwing away trash more accessible to people in the community, limit the amount of litter floating around and protect animals and the environment from loose trash. Working on the project has shaped her understanding of civic engagement by showing her just how easy it is to contact her elected officials and make things happen, which is a major goal of the Center for Character and Citizenship’s work.
This is the second year for the event, and Mindy Bier, co-director for the Center for Character and Citizenship and the Teresa M. Fischer Endowed Professor for Citizenship Education, said plans are in the works for it to continue to grow in the future.
