#1 - First & Last Name – School – Grade

Example:

John Doe – Macomb HS – Grade 10

#2 - Post Description (2–3 sentences)

In the text box, include:

• A brief summary of your pitch (What is it about? Why does it matter?)

  
  

#3 - Attach your Pitch Product

This should be one of the following:

• PDF (one-pager or infographic)

• Link to Google Slides or Google Doc

• Link to a video, etc.

  
  

REMEMBER: Your idea matters more than how polished it looks.

⭐ What Happens Next?

Selected pitches will:

• Receive $100 recognition awards

• Be showcased at the Western Illinois Museum

• Be featured on The Forgottonia Project podcast

Your voice matters. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

NOTE: You may complete this project:

• On your own

• With one partner

• In a group of up to 3 students

If working with others:

• List all student names, schools, and grade levels 

• Submit ONE shared post per group

🏆 Important:
Prizes are awarded per submission, not per person.

My pitch focuses on the overlooked history of our town square, which has served as a site for community gatherings for over 100 years. Most residents walk through the square without knowing its history, and I believe it deserves public recognition. My idea is to place a historical marker on the town square so people can better know our history.

Many elderly residents in our community struggle to maintain their lawns. We propose a student-led volunteer lawn care network that connects students with elderly residents who need occasional help.

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An annual storytelling event that uses community stories would help people feel more connected to their community and also encourage people to talk to each other. Having this be annual event gives people something to look forward to. There can be multiple readers or even music too. An example of this that may be similar is Raritians opera house hosting a story telling event. I also did a story telling event for my senior project and it was very popular among older people. If you have this be something that happens more frequently, younger people may be more interested. Teachers and adults can also get students involved too

A place to meet up with people with clubs and similar interests to you and others, where people of all ages and skill levels can come and play games and read books based on a suggestion system. Ex. A monthly D&D club where people can join in and leave at any time. This can promote collectiveness and unity with the younger people in the community, along with the younger people getting out of the house and out of trouble.

My idea would be to resurrect the abandoned "Mell of a Hess" building that is next to Caseys general store in town. It would be cool if we could make it into a diner or a cafe because we do not have on of those in town. A cafe would be a great addition to the town, it would be a place where people could go meet, especially the people of old age. The building used to an old cafe kind of place, so the layout would not have to be changed much. Obviously, I cannot accomplish doing this right now, but it would be cool if someone or a group of people could.

 My pitch is that a laundry mat would help our community. A laundry mat would be so helpful to our community because there are apartments that don't have access to a laundry. There used to be one, but now it's a gym, which I think was good for our community, but a laundry mat would have been better. People have to go to Canton or Lewistown to do laundry, which is a waste of gas because you have to travel like 10 miles just to wash some clothes. I  think if the community took care of the laundry mat, then it would last longer than it did. If someone checked on the laundry mat and kept all the bad people who would take advantage of it, then I think it would be just fine. A laundry mat would also be useful because usually laundry mats have bigger washers, and you could fit a good amount of laundry in there. People could also do multiple loads at once and make it quick instead of doing multiple loads that would take all day.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208016/-Link I used.

I have lived in Cuba for almost sixteen years now, and the longer I live here, the more places keep shutting down and almost forcing people to move away. My pitch is that, of course, not all at once, but slowly, Cuba starts implementing more things in the square. We have a great start with Jules Ice Cream and Coffee Shop, the gym, the library, but we truly need more, maybe a fun recreation type center with ping pong and pool, or a fresh market, or even a cozy diner. This is important because the population of Cuba continues to decline due to a lack of resources and truly nothing to do, and if we want Cuba to become a thriving township, we need to start taking action.

Honoring family members that have passed is important to me and I think our cemeteries need more flowers. My proposal is to place a various amount of flowers and make it look beautiful. Plenty of people put flowers on relatives graves, but a lot of people get left out and I think they deserve flowers as well.

The community center is loved and used by many people. Kids ranging from preschool to post-graduation. If we want kids in the future to be able to use it as we did, we need to keep it in good condition. It has many purposes for the residents of Cuba. Some kids stay there after school in place of an expensive daycare. Others stop by when they have free time to do things they love with people they love. You can swing, run around, play on the playground, play basketball, etc. All in all, the community center allowed many generations to learn and come together, and we should allow the same for future generations.

I think it would be a great idea for Cuba to have a local thrift store. Thrift stores are an important part of every local economy, and they allow people to purchase clothes and other used goods for a fraction of the price of brand-new items. It would also give people an easier way to donate their items, so they don't have to throw them away or drive to Canton or Macomb. Another benefit of a local thrift store is that it is better for the environment. By recycling clothes, we would be helping conserve resources and reduce landfill waste. If we could convert one of the empty buildings on the square into a thrift store, it would be a business to help the local economy, and one that Cuba could be proud of.

I have lived in Cuba my whole life, and not till recently did I realize that Cuba had a food pantry. For my senior project, I hosted a softball camp and asked for donations that I would donate to the food pantry. It wasn't until then that I really noticed that the Cuba food pantry was there. So my pitch is to move the Cuba food pantry from the community center to a more well-known place. Right now, it is just in a room in the Cuba community center, and I don't think that many people know that it is there. I think that it should be moved to a more well-known area of Cuba, like the town square. Moving it to the square, then it will be in the middle of town. But I also think that it should be advertised more on social media. I believe that if it is moved and advertised for, then it can be used to its full potential.