Taft Middle School

Overview: All together, the school will take on the task of developing students into confident leaders. Each grade level will take on a different task (6th grade: garden restoration, 7th grade: painting of storm drains, 8th grade: podcast creation) to develop a school-wide culture of global leaders.

Project Initiation: The project was introduced to students through advisory, a new class period added at Taft. The school took on the task of developing students into confident leaders. Each grade level took on a different task (6th grade: garden restoration, 7th grade: painting of storm drains, 8th grade: podcast creation) to develop a school-wide culture on how to become global leaders that protect the environment. 7th grade worked with client partners I Love a Clean San Diego to restore storm drains on campus.

Project Exploration and Development: Students had an opportunity to learn through growing a garden at school to contribute to improving their own living space and the environment. Also, students had the opportunity to work together to restore plant, and maintain the Taft garden. Students painting the storm drains will have had background information on our oceans and that drains lead to local waterways, directly affecting wildlife and people. PSAs created by student leaders will lead people to think twice about dumping pollutants into storm drains (deliverable). Podcast content gives listeners the ability to dive into topics. Students will have the opportunity to take control of an aspect of their education and become leaders by sharing their learning and lifting their voices and those of others. 

Project Revision and Exhibition: 6th graders restored, planted, and maintained the garden. Teacher-student relationships were created in the garden and physical revisions were made as students fought with and against nature to deliver their restored garden. 7th graders learned that drains lead to local waterways, directly affecting wildlife and people. They attended a seminar with a guest speaker from I Love a Clean San Diego to revise current storm drains on campus. 8th graders revised podcast scripts for final exhibition.

Teachers and Subjects: Frank Ciriza- English, Julie Neri- Math, Juan Santos- History, Jessica Garcia- Science, Demi Gonzalez- PE