Creating The Future Scholarship

The "Creating the Future" scholarship was established in 2010 in honor of Dr. E. Paul Torrance, creativity guru and founder of Future Problem Solving Program. FPS is an international competitive program in which students apply a problem solving process to situations involving global issues, to current issues in schools and communities, and to visions of the future through storytelling.

The scholarship recognizes a current FPS student who is graduating from secondary school. Applicants generally have many years of participation in competitive Future Problem Solving, often in more than one component. In addition, they have shown exceptional dedication to the program through actions that embody the skills of a creative problem solver and/or support the program in their geographic area.

The application submission window is now closed.
Please check back for more information September 1st, 2021.

Anjika Jain is a Future Problem Solver from the Future Problem Solving Program International’s Michigan Affiliate. She has immersed herself in the multitude of opportunities that FPS offers from becoming a Student Representative on the Michigan FPS Board to evaluating GIPS booklets and scenarios. She has seven years of experience as an individual GIPS writer that sparked intellectual curiosity as she maneuvered through the six-step process crafting all-encompassing solutions, but states it was becoming part of a team GIPS that impacted her the most. She learned that collaboration is key, and that innovation arises best when various ideas meld into one. This newfound wisdom led her to coach a group of 4th/5th graders.

Anjika also participated in Community Problem, creating Bridge the Gap, an organization that provides opportunities to those with disabilities and bridges the gap between kids with and without special needs. Over the past 4 years, she hosted over 40+ after-school events, created her high school’s first Special Olympics Unified Team, and collaborated with her City’s Event Coordinator to create inclusive activities at city-sponsored events. She ultimately created an app that helps children with autism achieve essential social and cognitive tasks. When she was announced as a winner for the Congressional App Challenge, she credited FPS for creativity and ability to develop a variety of solutions for one overarching issue. She traveled to Washington D.C. where she presented her app in the U.S. Capitol Building and it is still featured on the House of Representatives website, House.Gov.

During the summer of 2020, Anjika uploaded her app to the Google Play store and created a website to provide resources that focus on mental health issues that many students with special needs may be facing during the pandemic.

Hannah Schleibinger is a Future Problem Solver from the Future Problem Solving Program International’s Illinois Affiliate. At the young age of eleven, she was introduced to a new type of curriculum within her middle school’s advanced language arts program. One that emphasized the need for creativity, innovation, and critical thinking techniques. It allowed her to express her individuality in a unique way and develop solutions to futuristic problems through the six-step action plan. It fostered new connections with teammates, community members, and most importantly herself as she pursued the challenge of performing exceptionally throughout these competitions. Now seven years later, the verbal and handwritten process of solving solutions comes naturally to her throughout everyday life.

Throughout her Future Problem Solving experiences, she has participated in six international competitions and has seen multiple different perspectives as she has competed in Global Issues Problem Solving, Scenario Writing, Community Problem Solving, Individual Global Issues Problem Solving, and MAGIC Team.

Hannah maintains a commitment that it fosters a new generation of problem solvers within her community. She strongly advocates for the stressed need of continuing Future Problem Solving within high school, and has gained strong support from administration and classmates in allowing this club to remain an essential to their education. Additionally, her passion for encouraging others and deep understanding of engagement in the process has provided the opportunity to be chosen to be an apprentice judge at the Illinois affiliate level. To witness the future generations compete where she once was and value their creative ideas has allowed her to fully embrace the Future Problem Solving mission of “developing the ability of young people globally to design and achieve positive futures through problem solving using critical and creative thinking.”

Kate Wang is a Future Problem Solver from the Future Problem Solving Program International’s California Affiliate. She started her FPS journey by competing in GIPS as a team member and individual when she was a fifth grader. Besides brainstorming somewhat outlandish ideas and narrowing down an action plan during competitions, teaming up with her friends to create skits were some of her most memorable experiences. Her interest in FPS has grown each year since. In eighth grade, she added the new component Scenario Performance to her FPS experience to learn and practice communication and presentation skills. To share her passion, she advocated for FPS in her school, and now she serves as an evaluator to pass on the knowledge she gained to younger students.

FPS changed her mindset and how she approaches problems in real life. She applied the processes she learned in FPS when she worked on solving the toxic pesticide issues in her community. After learning that suspected cancer-causing pesticides were widely used in San Diego County parks and schools, she teamed up with a few high school students and founded the Non-Toxic San Diego Youth Action Team to advocate for change. Her team presented their findings to a City Councilmember and recommended a solution of replacing toxic pesticides with organic alternatives in public parks and schools, without an increase in costs.

Kate also practices problem solving skills when volunteering at Solutions for Change, a non-profit that combats family homelessness in San Diego. FPS has equipped her with the powerful tools to tackle these complex issues and create solutions to help her community.