Our future leaders are working hard to make the world a better place, and they’re having fun doing it, too. The Future Problem Solving Program International is comprised of a group of students who are using their creative minds and collaborating to solve and innovate on issues. The students use a six-step process to develop innovative and creative solutions to imaginary problems and situations that could possibly happen in the future. In teams of four, they work together and try to win the competition by coming up with the most interesting and creative solutions to the suggested problem.

English teacher Mrs. Shannon Lichty is the FPS faculty sponsor and has devoted much of her time and energy to the club. Future Problem Solvers is “a dynamic international program involving thousands of students annually from around the world. Developed in 1974 by creativity pioneer Dr. E. Paul Torrance, Future Problem Solving (FPS) provides competitive and non-competitive components for today’s curriculum via a six-step model which teaches critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making” (FPSI website). This six-step process is how the students format their solution to a problem in a competition. To win a competition, the group must follow the six-step process and have the most creative solution to the issue. It is a fun way to get students to use their brains to solve issues that could happen in the future.

As with every extracurricular activity, FPS has taken a hit in 2020. Junior Callie Brady is part of the club and she said,“COVID-19 has affected the way in which our competitions are set up. All of FPS, 6th-12th grade, used to compete in the SLC together, but now we are separated into three different areas. Some of the competitors are virtual, so the team dynamic is a bit different, but FPS is still fun all the same.” It seems that despite the changing of times the team is doing everything it can to make this year go as smoothly as possible.