If you have relatives or friends who served in the military, write a feature article in which you interview some of them. In your interviews, don't ask questions that are too personal, instead discuss their experiences and why they chose to serve in the armed forces. You can also interview their family members to get additional stories regarding the lives of the veterans.
If in recent years the dropout rate for high school students has increased in your city, write a research paper that examines the primary reasons for this increase, and then suggest ways that parents, school administrators and the students themselves can reduce this rate. If possible, interview random people who didn't finish high school and discuss how the decision affected their quality of life. Also include recent research from news magazines, scholarly articles and nonfiction books on the subject.
Although hip-hop music has been described as urban social commentary by some, this genre also has its roots in 1970s funk music and key players such as James Brown and Gil Scott-Heron. Write a paper that examines how funk music laid a strong foundation for hip-hop culture to build on, and whether today's hip-hop still reflects the influence of funk music and the social uplift message that funk artists often focused on in their songs.
Another idea is to write about how cooking shows have evolved in American culture since Julia Child first hosted her program "The French Chef" in the 1960s, and compare her presentation style to that of modern-day cooking show hosts such as Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Paula Deen and Ina Garten. Discuss how globalization of cuisine in America led to a more diverse array of cooking programs, and examine what that says about American's changing food interests.