Solutions Project Ideas

1. Homeless Teens in St. Louis
After hearing about a homeless teenager who attends Marquette High School, which is less than 2 miles away from my house. While I don't go to Marquette or know the student personally, I had never really thought about the teenagers who are homeless, but still trying to go to school and get an education so close to where I live. When you don't see it everyday or don't necessarily even realize that these things are going on so close to you, it's easy to push out of your mind, but I think that homeless teens is an issue that needs to be brought to the forefront of our minds.
http://www.suite101.com/blog/pytel/homeless_high_school_students
http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=202129

2. Teen Pregnancy
In Missouri, there are around 8,600 teen births annually, and while teen birth rates are generally on the decline, this is still an important issue. I think this would be an interesting topic to research because it's so strange to think that there are girls my age who are having babies and going through the struggles of pregnancy or raising a child, and I think education is the biggest way to attack this issue.

http://missourifamilies.org/features/adolescentsarticles/adolesfeature13.htm
http://www.studlife.com/news/region/2010/10/29/wu-reaching-out-to-st-louis-on-issue-of-teen-pregnancy/

3. Child/Teen Obesity
I think this would be interesting especially from the angle of what schools can do to halt this growing epidemic of child obesity. Habits begin young and with children spending a lot of time at school, I think that researching the effects of schools on obesity, and how they can stop it.
http://www.stlouischildrens.org/content/newsreleasearchive09.htm?page_id=5336&inCtx12view=10&inCtx12pg=0&inCtx12news=10&site_id=1&minor=0&inCtx12news_id=220&major=1
http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-childhood-obesity-has-become-epidemic-111510,0,295670.story