On a sunny afternoon in Temple Terrace, a brightly painted box of books stands beneath the shade of a park tree — small enough to be missed at a glance, but powerful enough to change a child’s day. Built, stocked, and celebrated by a group of University of South Florida Millennium Fellows, the “Books and Butterflies” project has turned simple wooden libraries into hubs of imagination, collecting more than 500 books and planting them across neighborhoods that need them most.
The United Nations Millennium Fellowship provides leadership training to selected students around the world to advance projects addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are designed to reduce inequality, improve health and education, and spur economic growth. Fellows can work on projects individually or in teams. In 2025, 15 USF students were selected, a record number for the university.
When Rhea Joshi, Afreen Khan, and Priya Desai began brainstorming their Millennium Fellowship project, they wanted to address challenges close to home. All three attended Hillsborough County Public Schools and had witnessed many students struggled with reading, especially students for whom English is not their first language. After conducting research, they learned that Temple Terrace Elementary’s reading proficiency rate was 30%, prompting them to focus their efforts on surrounding neighborhoods.
Setting off to address UN Sustainable Goal No. 4, Quality Education, the group envisioned inspiring a love of reading through little free libraries.
“By bringing libraries close to their neighborhoods, we expand access to reading resources without placing the burden on struggling or busy parents,” said Joshi.
Books and Butterflies Taking Flight
To bring the project to life, the group needed to partner with local organizations, including Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, who helped secure permits for the libraries in local parks. Through bake sales and fundraising efforts, the team purchased three little free libraries and plans to add more through its ongoing collaboration with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful. The group plans to build and fill libraries in Reed Park, Copeland Park, Cheney Park, Spring Hill Park, and in an apartment complex called The Villas.
To collect books, the students partnered with Mojo Books and Records and Tampa Antiques and Books, while also hosting a book drive to collect over 500 books for children in grades K-12. They also plan to host events around the libraries featuring activities and crafts designed to make reading more engaging and accessible.
“We are so proud of the success we have already had, and we’re excited to continue expanding this project,” said Joshi.
The group’s work reflects the broader spirit of the USF Millennium Fellows cohort, whose members are reimagining what service can look like in the Tampa Bay region: practical, collaborative, and rooted in the belief that meaningful change can begin with something as small as a book.
A Cohort of Changemakers
The rest of the 2025 USF Millennium Fellows have been hard at work addressing different
Sustainable Development Goals.
Brady Quinn developed a documentary project focused on sustainability efforts across
Tampa Bay as part of his Millennium Fellowship work. He was recently awarded the Judy
Genshaft Honors College Blanchard Sustainability Leadership Prize to continue the project.
Arni Madhok (right) buying toys for Neuro Kids Arc
Other student groups tackled a wide range of challenges, from building support networks for women’s professional development to advocating for chronic disease awareness.
One of the cohort campus directors, Arni Madhok, has expanded her work with the Millennium Fellowship by serving on two of their national committees. She also founded the non-profit Neuro Kids Arc, which is dedicated to bringing comfort and hope to children facing difficult moments in hospitals. Through volunteer-led creative classes with children, medical toy drives, card and care package initiatives, and research presentation opportunities that connect students with physicians, Neuro Kids Arc creates connections between children in need and aspiring health care professionals while fostering mentorship, leadership, and compassionate care.
Taken together, these projects do more than serve local communities. They reflect a generation already practicing globally connected leadership by tackling challenges one step at a time.
Students interested in applying for the Millennium Fellowship should contact the Office of National Scholars for guidance.