This week, two girls from Goddard, Kansas officially stepped into something much bigger than a summer program.

In partnership with the The Society of Child Entrepreneurs, they were selected as the only Midwest team for the Youth as Solutions Summer 2026 Peacemaking Project through the National Youth Leadership Council in partnership with 9/11 Day, AmeriCorps, and the Shinnyo-en Foundation.

Over the next several months, they will work alongside mentors and national peers to investigate hunger-related challenges in our community, engage with local organizations and faith groups, and develop a youth-led service project designed to create meaningful local impact in honor of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

And they just finished 5th grade.

That detail matters.

Because somewhere along the way, society began treating leadership like something children are supposed to prepare for later instead of practice now.

We tell young people to wait their turn.
Wait until high school.
Wait until college.
Wait until adulthood.
Wait until someone gives them permission to matter.

But children are already paying attention to the world around them.
They already notice problems.
They already ask difficult questions.
They already care deeply about fairness, hunger, loneliness, belonging, and community.

The problem is not that children are incapable of leadership.
The problem is that adults often fail to create spaces where leadership is trusted, practiced, and taken seriously.

This opportunity is powerful not simply because it is national recognition. It is powerful because it represents something larger:

Young people can engage in real civic work.
Young people can build bridges across communities.
Young people can participate in service-learning that creates lasting impact.
Young people can lead conversations that matter.

At The Society of Child Entrepreneurs, we believe leadership grows through experience, responsibility, problem-solving, and community engagement. That belief is woven into every workshop, business fair, member night, and student project we create.

Not because we expect children to have all the answers.
But because we believe they deserve opportunities to practice finding them.

These students are not participating in a simulation.
They are stepping into real work with real responsibility and real community impact.

And honestly?
That gives us a lot of hope.

Because if two students from Kansas can spend their summer building connections, addressing hunger, and learning how to serve their community before middle school, imagine what becomes possible when more communities begin seeing children not as future leaders, but as leaders already in progress.

We are incredibly proud of these young leaders and grateful to everyone who continues supporting spaces where children are trusted to grow, contribute, and lead.

The work starts now.