Why You Should Join FPSPI

By: Mina Yuan

You.

Yes you, dear Joyce Ivy blog reader.

No excuses. Go join your local FPS chapter right now. I don’t care if you’re studying for a history final or eating dinner or even reading a really fantastic book, because FPS is the single thing that, of all the things you could be doing right now, will have the greatest impact on your life. Whether your goal is to get into the school of your fantasies, land that dream job, or make some phenomenal friends, I promise you that FPS will help you achieve it.

So what is FPS?

Future Problem Solving (FPS) is an international program that teaches students not what to think, but how to think. Students in grades 4-12 and adults can compete either as teams or as individuals. Within FPS, there are four events: Global Issues Problem Solving (GIPS), Community Problem Solving (CmPS), Scenario Writing, and Scenario Performance, but I will only be discussing GIPS in this article.

For GIPS, competitors are given a description of a scene set in the future that contains highly relevant potential issues, such as pollution, copyright conflicts, desertification, or natural disasters. Working together within their teams, competitors identify these issues, brainstorm possible solutions through a six-step problem-solving process, and then write up an analysis of the process, all in two hours.

Alright, so maybe that doesn’t sound too appealing. Spending two hours thinking really hard sounds exhausting. And it is.

But it is also unimaginably rewarding.

The FPS process is a simple way to break down just about any problem that arises in life. My own coach used the six-step process to decide which house to buy. Some of my friends used the process to narrow down their list of schools to apply to, which is a relevant issue for quite a few of us here at JIF. In fact, the following six-step process is so universally applicable that you can use it to figure out anything from what to wear tomorrow to where to live in ten years.

The Six-Step Process

1. Identify potential issues in the future scene.

Ex: A potential issue is that Joyce Ivy blog readers may not be part of FPS. Also, Joyce Ivy blog readers may not know what FPS is.

2. Select the most important problem.

Ex: Since Joyce Ivy blog readers may not know what FPS is, how might I improve their understanding of FPS so that they will join it?

3. Brainstorm solutions.

Ex: I will write a blog post about FPS. Or alternatively, I will sprout wings and fly to each blog reader’s house to personally and verbally inform them about the infinite benefits of FPS.

4. Develop criteria for the solutions.

Ex: Which of these solutions is most likely to occur considering the limitations of the human physiology?

5. Determine which solution is the best.

Ex: Writing a blog post is the solution most likely to occur since humans cannot sprout wings.

6. Choose one final solution and write an analysis of how it will work.

Ex: This blog post will be uploaded to the JIF blog on February 22nd, 2016 by the (totally awesome) Publications Committee chairs Aditi and Krishaun. It will contain information about the components and benefits of FPS, and it will convert every single reader to an FPS fanatic.

Disclaimer: the preceding example may or may not have been slightly unrealistic and/or oversimplified ☺

Although this six-step process may seem obvious to the point of uselessness (no thanks to my extremely simplified example), it’s actually designed to stretch out your brain in ways that conventional schooling doesn’t.

First of all, it boosts creativity. Most of the future scenes are set several decades from now in made-up nations. The people and politics involved are just detached enough from current events that while the main issue is always relatable, thinking outside of the box is absolutely necessary. After all, you can’t exactly avoid creativity when you have to solve a problem that doesn’t yet exist.

At the same time, the FPS process also allows you to break down and gradually digest an enormous issue. While solving the problem of natural disasters may seem like a Herculean task, breaking up the process helps you bite off perfectly reasonable chunks one at a time. By the end of the six steps, an overwhelming conglomerate of potential issues has been whittled down to a well-reasoned, specific solution.

This kind of creative, forward-looking, strategic mindset is exactly what colleges, graduate schools, and employers seek out. Thinking ahead to the future, not getting overwhelmed by all the potential problems, and having the ability to think of various possible plans is a necessary life skill. While a K-12 education is fantastic in many other ways, this is one grey area that is difficult to cover in a conventional classroom setting. And when you are one in a crowd of hundreds of other qualified, talented applicants, having experience with innovative problem-solving might just be the extra push you need to achieve your goal.

In addition, FPS is a fantastic way to forge friendships with leaders of the future. I have been in FPS for three years now, and I have yet to meet a competitor who is not unbelievably bright and full of potential (much like JIF participants!). The people who are in FPS are the ones who care about their communities, the ones who pay attention to the news and care for people different from them, the ones who will lead humanity for the next couple of decades. Working on a team with these kinds of people is an amazing experience in and of itself.

Besides, I can personally guarantee that there is no better way to make friends than to shout increasingly ridiculous ideas at three other frenzied people. I didn’t know my own teammates too well until our first competition together, when we brainstormed some highly disturbing solutions such as take-home babies and romantic robot rendezvous. Now I regard my teammates as my closest friends, especially because our bonds were forged in a stressful but gratifying environment.

And that brings me to my next point: when it comes down to mental health, FPS provides unexpected benefits.

Learning to have fun even when stressed is essential. Sure, maybe you want to keep your GPA up, but you shouldn’t completely destroy your mental health every time you have an important test. Channeling stress into efficiency while still enjoying yourself is absolutely necessary, and FPS participants hone this skill at each and every competition.

Writing out a full packet is no easy task to accomplish in two hours, but freaking out about it doesn’t help. Learning to enjoy the problem-solving process is as important in FPS as is thinking creatively – it’s tough to finish the packet if you aren’t having fun while doing it. And while “fun” isn’t usually the word I use to describe writing up what is essentially a giant analysis paper, FPS is inexplicably yet undeniably enjoyable.

Perhaps it’s the great people I’ve met since joining FPS that have so captured my heart, or maybe it’s the insane solutions (One Direction concert on Mars, anyone?) my teammates and I giggle over before reaching a final solution. But regardless of why I adore FPS, one thing is for certain:

For more information on FPS and how to join, see http://www.fpspi.org/.