We Have Problem Solvers — And World Champions— In Our Midst

 

We Have Problem Solvers — And World Champions— In Our Midst

“So many people aren’t aware of it. Yet, half the people I know have received a creepy text message from a random person.” Such is the world today’s young people are living in, as portrayed starkly by Shyla Gordon, who has just finished eighth grade at North Junior High School. “I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that experience, which is why I wanted to talk about it,” says Fatuma Hassan, who has just completed her junior year at Apollo High School. Hassan and Gordon’s response to their concern earned them, in June, first place in the Community Problem Solving section at the 2023 Future Problem Solving Program International competition. They’re the best in the world.

The Future Problem Solving program, started almost half a century ago, has been an extracurricular activity in St. Cloud Area School District 742 for more than 30 years. Students are trained in a skills process with which they then creatively address a problem they see in their community — a problem that, if not solved, will loom ever larger into the future.

The prize-winning project that these two young women have developed over the past two years is called “Who’s on the Other Side?” They were shocked to learn that there are half a million predators a day active on the internet in the U.S.; that Minnesota ranks third in the nation for prostitution/child sexual exploitation; and that the city of St. Cloud is second highest in Minnesota.