Honorable Mention

Lucy Montalti, grade 10
Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ
Teacher: Scott Lang

Currently, period products are viewed as commercial products and even taxed as a luxury item in some regions, despite being a necessary health product. The Cycle Project aims to redefine menstrual products as health products and ensure that all people with periods have access to the care and resources they need. The Cycle Project will introduce street carts in major cities, providing free tampons, pads, and informational brochures on menstrual health to those in period poverty, all with gender-neutral language and packaging. Any person in need of these products can walk up to a street cart and receive what they require. Tampon taxes and societal stigma hinder the ability of people with periods to receive the proper products and education they deserve. This initiative would fight these issues, provide people the products they need, and reimagine period care as necessary and destigmatized.