Cumberland County Public Schools (CUCPS) held a WAGiLabs Camp June 25-29, for students in third and fourth grades.

“WAGi” stands for “What a Great Idea!” WAGiLabs is a program designed to inspire kidpreneurs through developing a mindset of embracing curiosity, compassion, courage and connection in order to change the world.

According to Pamela Stepko, the WAGiLab facilitator, students participating in the camp became detectives through investigating the needs of their community, brainstorming solutions for meeting the needs and creating prototypes for putting their plans into action.

In order to identify county needs, students took a walk through the Cumberland Village community, including the Cumberland Museum and identified both the good things the community has to offer and its challenges. After their investigation, students selected trash disposal as an important need for the county.

Stepko said that the students experienced mindfulness, empathy, collaboration, struggle and perseverance through the process.

At the beginning of the upcoming school year, students will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges for feedback. Stepko noted, “Curiosity and passion are their compass to becoming the problem solvers and entrepreneurs of our community.”

WAGiLabs is a nonprofit, social innovation incubator for kids’ ideas. The goal of the labs is to “unleash their curiosity and chase their dreams one great idea at a time.”