STORY PREVIEW

2026

Bite the Change

Osnovna škola "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj"

Vojvodina

MENTOR

Dragana Bogosavljević

STUDENTS

Step 1 FEEL

List the challenges or problems in your surroundings (school,neighbourhood etc.) that bothered you.

During our Student Parliament brainstorming session, we used sticky notes to map out different problems in our school. We talked about everything from infrastructure issues to general school life, but the biggest and most common complaint was about our school cafeteria. Many of us frequently visit other schools in our town for sports tournaments or final exam preparations, and we noticed a huge contrast. While those schools offer a variety of good food options, our own canteen is almost completely limited to standard, heavy bakery products, leaving absolutely no room for fresh or healthy choices.

State the problem chosen to work and why.

We chose to tackle the lack of healthy food options in our school cafeteria. We selected this specific problem because nutrition directly impacts our daily energy, health, and focus during classes. Since we could not immediately change official school procurement contracts or physically renovate the cafeteria, we decided to launch a positive, parallel solution instead of just complaining. We realized that the real challenge wasn't just the vendor, but proving to the school board and parents that students genuinely want and would choose healthier alternatives if they were available. We wanted to take matters into our own hands and prove the market demand through student action.

Who were the people affected by the problem? What were their primary concerns?

The people most affected were, of course, the students and our parents. Our main concern was the complete lack of choice. Anyone who wanted to eat healthier, or students who have specific allergies and dietary restrictions (like gluten intolerance), simply had no options in the canteen. Parents were also very worried about the quality of food we eat every day. To turn these complaints into real facts, we created a Google Survey for both students and parents. We asked about buying habits, acceptable prices for healthy meals, and what specific food items everyone wanted to see. The response was amazing—in just three days we gathered nearly 270 answers, mostly from parents, proving that our whole school community is ready and deeply cares about making this change.

Step 4 IMAGINE

List ALL the different solutions you came up with.

Once we defined the problem and gathered our initial survey data, our Student Parliament met again to brainstorm potential solutions. We threw a lot of ideas around, ranging from writing an official protest letter to the Parents' Council to cancel the bakery contract, to organizing a boycott where students would completely refuse to buy food from the canteen. We also thought about launching a classic educational poster campaign to encourage everyone to bring healthy meals from home. Ultimately, we realized that presenting just raw numbers wasn't enough to change anything, so the idea that got us most excited was a combined solution: launching a live awareness campaign to back up our findings, and creating our own temporary healthy food line right inside the existing cafeteria as a pilot project to test our peers' reactions.

Which solution from those listed above did you choose to implement and why?

To bring this to life, we pictured a campaign that would bring the whole school together. We decided to use the school’s Family Day film music concert—an event our Parliament traditionally marks with various activities—because we knew tons of parents would be there. Our plan was to create our own cool look, with a project logo and flyers, and present our initial online survey findings during the event. Since the Principal told us we had to find our own resources, we talked to our families. One student’s dad immediately stepped up and donated 3 kg of nuts and dried fruits, and we provided a crate of apples to hand out as healthy snack packs. This was the perfect way to kick off our campaign, share healthy habits, and get both parents and the School Board on our side from day one.

Step 3DO

Describe very briefly the process of implementing your solution(s).

Our original plan was to launch a two-week healthy food line in the canteen and partner up with local suppliers. We presented our initial online survey results to the Parents' Council and the School Board, asking for their concrete help. Although the adults praised our maturity, nobody actually stepped up to provide resources; certain local healthy bakeries and even parents who own fruit plantations completely ignored our requests. Instead of giving up after being left on our own, our Student Parliament quickly adapted. A turning point happened when younger students got so inspired by our campaign that they proactively requested paper surveys, adding 350 more voices to our cause! With the school providing one crate of apples and our Parliament funding another, we shifted our strategy to a high-impact, two-day "Healthy Days" action on June 2nd and 3rd. On Day 1, we distributed fresh apples and set up donation and suggestion boxes. On Day 2, we challenged everyone to bring a healthy meal from home as a creative protest. In the mathematics classroom, for example, 7th graders completely respected the challenge and ate apples during their exam!

What was the result or impact of your project?

Even though we didn't change the vendor overnight, we made a huge step forward in raising awareness. We got the entire community talking about nutrition. Through our combined digital and paper surveys, our initiative directly engaged over 600 respondents, allowing us to officially force the Parents' Council and the School Board to face hard, undeniable data. Through our donation box, we successfully collected enough funds to secure another crate of apples for future actions, and we received excellent peer suggestions. We proved that students are ready to choose healthy options when given an alternative, and we laid a solid foundation for permanent canteen reforms.

How many people were impacted by your solution(s)?

650

What did the impacted people have to say about your project? Provide 2 quotes or testimonials:

Student (Grade 7): "Eating an apple during our math exam actually felt great and kept us focused. It showed us that we don't always need greasy pastries from the bakery to get through the school day if we just organize ourselves." The School Principal: "Changing old habits is a slow process, and while the whole school didn't change in two days, this initiative is a massive step forward. The Parliament successfully started a real dialogue between students, parents, and the School Board."

What challenges did you encounter while implementing your project, and how did you overcome them?

Our biggest challenge was the lack of institutional and community backup. While we had a fantastic initial boost from one student’s dad who donated 3 kg of nuts and fruits for our concert, it was deeply disappointing when local healthy bakeries and families with large fruit plantations refused to support our campaign. We overcame this by refusing to play the victim. Our Parliament decided to fund a crate of apples themselves, the school backed us with another, and we focused on inspiring our peers directly—which beautifully paid off when the younger students enthusiastically joined in with their paper surveys. Another challenge was that the "Healthy Day" wasn't perfect in every single classroom, but we focused on our victories, like the 7th graders who embraced the initiative with 100% motivation.

How long did it take to implement your solution?

7-15 Days

Step 4 SHARE

How did you share your project with your school and community? Who did you share your project with? What was their response?

We shared our "Bite the Change" project multi-layered: digitally through online surveys that reached nearly 270 students and parents—with parents making up over 60% of the respondents—and physically within the school. Our campaign at the Family Day concert created such a buzz that younger students got inspired and proactively requested paper surveys to join in, adding 350 more voices to our research. We also officially presented our combined data and student demands to the Parents' Council and the School Board. The response was mixed—while the adults gave us polite verbal support and praised our maturity, they provided zero material help, and certain local bakeries and families with fruit plantations ignored our requests. However, the peer response was incredible! By directly challenging our schoolmates, we turned our "Healthy Days" action into a mass movement where classrooms fully embraced the initiative, brought healthy snacks from home, and actively filled our donation and suggestion boxes.We also officially presented our combined data and student demands to the Parents' Council and the School Board. The response was mixed—while the adults gave us polite verbal support and praised our maturity, they provided zero material help, and certain local bakeries and families with fruit plantations ignored our requests. However, the peer response was incredible! By directly challenging our schoolmates, we turned our "Healthy Days" into a mass movement where classrooms fully embraced the initiative, brought healthy snacks from home, and actively filled our donation and suggestion boxes.

Approximately how many people did you share your story of change with?

More than 100

Briefly share your plan to sustain the impact of your project?

To sustain the impact of "Bite the Change", our Student Parliament plans to turn "Healthy Days" into a permanent monthly tradition in our school calendar. We will use the funds collected in our donation box to buy fresh fruit for future actions. Most importantly, we will use our combined database of over 600 survey responses as a powerful, permanent tool to negotiate. We plan to keep constant pressure on both the Parents' Council and the School Board by presenting these numbers at every upcoming meeting. When the current canteen vendor's contract comes up for renewal, we will officially demand that the School Board includes strict clauses requiring mandatory fresh, healthy, and allergy-friendly options in the new procurement contract.

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