Community Project

The Community Project

The Middle Years Program engages 8th graders in an annual community project. This project focuses on community and service, encouraging students to explore their rights and responsibilities to implement service as action in the community. The community project gives students an opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and address those needs through service learning. This project will occur throughout the students 8th grade year.

What it is:

A student-centered, service-oriented project where students explore their interests and make a positive impact in the community.

Steps:

• Investigate a community need
• Plan a project
• Take action
• Reflect on learning and impact

Types of projects:

• Direct service (e.g., reading to younger students, working at a community garden and donating produce)
• Indirect service (e.g., fundraising, making cards for hospital patients)
• Advocacy (e.g., awareness campaigns such as starting a kindness challenge at school)
• Research (e.g., surveys, studies such as
• Researching how much trash the school makes in a week)

Why it matters:

Builds critical thinking, collaboration, empathy, and connects to the IB mission of creating a better, more peaceful world.