Social Innovators Program

​Moorestown Friends School has partnered with the University of Pennsylvania and Schoolyard Ventures, an organization that develops university-level, real-world learning opportunities for ambitious high school students, to run the Social Innovators Program. Students who participate learn about entrepreneurship through a range of virtual lessons, interviews, case studies, and more. By the end of the program, they gain the skills needed to launch their own socially impactful passion projects.

The Social Innovators Program teaches high school students how to use an entrepreneurial mindset; this is a creative, design-centered, and flexible problem-solving framework that allows students to identify and explore opportunities, make informed decisions, stand firm in the face of adversity, and effectively communicate. Students can apply an entrepreneurial mindset to all aspects of academic, personal, and professional life.

At the end of the program, students present their projects and showcase their personal development. These projects are self-directed, but students have Schoolyard Ventures staff at their disposal for guidance and brainstorming. Students are encouraged to choose topics that ignite their intrigue and keep them curious. Recent projects include:

Bodhi Vance-Harris ’26 – RECO Initiative
Bodhi’s project, the “RECO Initiative,” which is short for “Recovery Initiative,” is focused on helping student athletes become more aware of the importance of staying healthy during the sports season, and finding easy ways to help their bodies recover.

Sophia Lalani ’25 – Connecting Student Journalists
Sophia’s project, “Connecting Student Journalists,” is focused on connecting high school students involved in journalism through an online network. The project completes this action by working as a chat function for students from different schools to have a
collaborative conversation.

Ava Blumberg ’24 – Social Media for Business
Ava’s project, “Social Media for Business,” is centered around helping business owners understand social media and use it effectively to grow their business and interact with customers. It does this through informative blog posts about why social media is
beneficial and step by step how-tos on creating accounts and learning what to post in order to stay active and expand their brand.

Nicole Jung ’24 – Inspirational Creative Writing Sessions
Nicole’s project, “Inspirational Creative Writing Sessions,” is focused on getting creative writers together and inspiring them through motivational discussion and receiving feedback.

Rebecca Wargo ’24 – Chaverim
Rebecca’s project, “Chaverim,” which means friend in Hebrew, focuses on giving Jewish teens a chance to better connect with their Jewish community. It does this by putting teens in online chat rooms and a video chat feature where they can discuss different aspects of Judaism.

Vikram Verma ’25 – Master Your Schedule
Vikram’s project, “Master Your Schedule,” is a program to help students struggling with their time management skills through school work, activities, and sports.

Ava Patel ’25 – Educating and Treating Affirmative Action
Ava’s project, “Educating and Treating Affirmative Action,” is focused on helping high school students treat affirmative action by reaching out to colleges seeking their interest. It is done so by using a platform that connects these high schoolers with college students in order to get insights on various ways they overcame the issue for themselves.

Kartik Rajan ’25 – The Perfect Schedule
Kartik’s project, “The Perfect Schedule,” is focused on creating an opportunity for teens to have more organized lives, and relieve their stress. This happens because it mixes a teen’s responsibilities with their fun entertainment.