The Real Power of the Pay it Forward Project

By Wendy

I was going to attempt to sum up the many successes I’ve witnessed in the past six weeks, as the 7th grade class identified, research and acted on so many truly important and difficult issues in the real world. Then I realized the best way to do that is to have them speak for themselves while I listened. Finding our voices and being agents of positive change is the essence of our 7th grade year.

Anica: I was inspired by my interviewer, when he was held back by so much having a shadow of a criminal record and people first judging him on a past drug induced mistake, but he still was positive and constantly talked about what was going positive in his life. I want to continue to give people second chances and not to judge them because of their past. Also I want to work on getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences and fighting for the right of people whose voices are ignored because of their mistakes.

Anya: It taught me that I shouldn’t put myself down because of who I am, and others don’t have power or aren’t better than me just because they have privilege. I plan to talk to others about what they can do better if they make a mistake, and educate others.

Bella: Something that was inspiring for me was how people were so passionate about and how people could really get into their topic.

Camille: It was really inspiring when the adults would ask you questions that were very insightful which kinda showed you that they actually thought that you were smart and it made me feel smarter when I could answer them in a way that sounded more professional. I want to keep up with organizations that help women who have been affected by domestic abuse and look for things like fun runs or donation type things so I can still play my part. I also think that it is important to make sure that people are educated, so just educating the people around me. ☺️

Caragh: I think that the most inspiring thing was adults learning so much and them connecting the issues to themselves and talking to me like a normal conversation, and them asking me questions because they want to know mo about it. I learned that I really connected with this issue I have a lot of friends who have had Anxiety and depression and I learned that support really helps, just one small act can make a huge difference. I want to continue supporting people through this but I also want to look at the laws of drugs and if there is one that I don’t like I might try to send a letter to try and make it better.

Chloe: I found how the guests that came and listened and watched us go through all our whole presentation inspiring, it taught me that I can present well and get a lot better after time.

Daisy: Pay It Forward really taught me to be a better steward for the environment. I am really passionate about Plastic Pollution and I can go on talking about it for a while and still be really passionate about it. Yes, it is very depressing because it affects everyone whether they realize it or not, but everyone can also do something to solve the issue by changing their lifestyle in little ways like not buying single use plastics or bringing your own bags to stores and asking if whatever they are shopping for does not come in plastic. Also on a smaller scale, you can either stop littering or pick up litter when you see it which stops it from entering the water or you can recycle plastic properly.

Evelyn: Knowing that I changed a lot of peoples opinion and biases makes me very inspired. I want to do a community meeting presentation because some people at SGS believe these false stereotypes are true, and I want to change their minds!

Franka: What I found most inspiring was that the answer to decreasing the numbers of sexual harassment, rape, or sexual assault--anywhere--but specifically in the workplace, was to propose a simple bill to congress asking for mandatory monthly sexual harassment training policies in workplaces. Sexaul harassment in the workplace has been found to be the most common place for sexual harassment to happen in America. If there is a law around training in workplaces, harassers will feel pressured with all of the discussion and policy changes, and hopefully quit the harassment and/or their job.

This experience showed me that I am creative, resourceful, and have formatting talents.

Gabi: I found it very inspiring to see all of my classmates’ art because it showed me in a way about how they saw their issue and what their take on it was. Seeing how everyone was so passionate about really important issues makes me feel that the world will be a better place because of us and people like us who want to make a difference. I learned that researching and educating myself so that I can at least teach other people is a great way for me to take action when dealing with a big issue. The I can form an opinion and take further steps to solving or helping to solve an issue. I want to reach out to Teen Vogue again and see if they can publish my lobbying speech. If they don't write back I want to send it to The Seattle Times. I got the idea from a parent to survey the school about cyberbullying.

Georgia: I just found it inspiring about how many people care about this issue and are working towards ending it. I learned that I’m better at persevering than I thought. I also learned a lot about how I work under pressure and how I actually work better when I’m under pressure. I have not actually sent my lobby letter yet and I would really like to send that some time.

Iris: There were so many people who seemed really surprised about everything that I had learned, and it was so cool seeing all of them really thinking and pondering my issue. I want to learn more about the problem, but also about the organization that I’m lobbying because now I know that there is a long history. I would like to write more letters to the organization and learn more about how I can be an ally to people dealing with eating disorders.

Ishani: What I found pretty inspiring was that the adults took me seriously. The adults asked me thoughtful questions, and made me think about different perspectives. PIF taught me that if I really about something, I will do anything to achieve it. I want to perfect my lobbying speech, and send it to more people.

Jasmine: Something I found inspiring was Millie’s grandmother is part of Grandma’s against Gun Violence and she knows a lot about Gun violence and she said that I did an amazing job on my project. I think I will continue to read and learn about this topic in the future. Being an activist is not really what I want to do for a job but I think it will be good every once in a while to go to a protest or march to try to end gun violence.

Jemma: When people showed how interesting and important my topic was it was inspiring and validating. It was also inspiring because not many people know about Human Trafficking, and teaching people about it and having them realize the importance of it was great. It taught me that I can talk confidently. I think that is because it was something that I was passionate about, I am going to write the representatives of Washington to support a bill that was just introduced. This bill could mean a HUGE step forward for trafficking.

Jetson: I learned that I could create a whole set-up all about LGBTQ++ awareness, rights and safety and that people will listen to me and here what I had to say. PIF taught me that I’m even braver than I thought and put myself out there and shared personal information with confidence.

Julianne: The thing I found most inspiring about the pay it forward project was how passionate everyone was about their topic. if we want to make a change, we just need to speak out about change. I will use less single-use plastic in the future, and I will educate others about the impacts of plastic pollution, encourage them to reuse, and show them sad photos of animals impacted by plastic pollution.

Kylie : It was really inspiring to see that everyone felt like they needed to stop child abuse when I presented. Everyone in the grade was also super into their topic and they knew exactly what they were presenting on. I also knew that a lot of the parents were looking at us as someone that they were talking to and not a kid. It taught me that people in the world want to help if you are in trouble and there will always be someone there for you.

Kate: What inspired me was seeing how much passion EVERYONE had for their issue and how we all wanted to see change on our topic. Also how much work and effort we all put into each of our topics. I also found that while I may have different beliefs than the Republicans sponsoring this trafficking bill, our fundamental beliefs may not be all that different. So in the future I hope to keep a more open mind about someone just a couple feet across the aisle, and learn to look at what makes us all similar instead of looking at the negative and what makes us different.

Kelsey: Something that I found really inspiring is how when I was presenting at culmination, people seemed genuinely interested to make a difference in the world and help stop animal cruelty. Adults were asking me more about what they can do to help. I also found it really inspiring about how passionate everyone was about their topic. No one seemed like they were only doing the project because they had too, everyone was so enthusiastic at culmination and it really sparked to mood in the room and made me want to be more energetic. Pay It Forward has taught me that even though I’m only 13 years old, I can still make a huge difference in the world. There are other ways to help a cause besides physically helping. You can raise awareness online, you can lobby someone, you can do many things. Pay It Forward has also taught me to believe in myself. You can’t support a cause fully unless you believe in yourself that you can make a difference in the world.

Lena: I found that I wanted to keep researching it for the rest of the school year and into 8th grade because all of the amazing people who we got to talk to gave me so many amazing ideas of ways I could continue to act upon my topic. When we were studying the Elwha River in science this year, it made me consider having a career as a climate scientist in the future. So to do this project was like a good intro into that. Chandra Ganguly (Ishani’s mom) and I were talking about how to cut down on our personal carbon footprints. She suggested that I send out a reminder to the parents though the Friday Forum and to put up a sign/s reminded people to please turn off their cars while waiting so that they can help reduce the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases they are expelling into our environment.

Levi: I think that having people Email me saying they would love to be interviewed was really cool, I thought that I was taken very seriously and it was really awesome. I also thought that making an infographic was awesome. The project taught me that I am brave. I used to be really scared of guns and I still am but know I am more informed. I plan to be active in this topic. I am going to participate in marches.

Lola: My interviewee’s answers inspired me, and taught me that how no matter how down you feel, there will always be somebody there to support you and cheer you on.

Maddie: I think that the thing that is most inspiring thing was watching everybody present to the parents. I learned that i can work on things on a small time crunch and that it is good quality work. I will continue to learn more about my issue.

Maitexa: The part of the Pay it forward project I found most inspiring was seeing that there was a bill getting introduced about my cause. It taught me that I can be a really good artist if I challenge myself enough and it a lot of effort into it and believe in myself.

Maya: The thing that I found most inspiring about the PIF process was the fact that a lot of parents were coming up to me and asking about what I suggest they should do for their teens...it was like I was the expert, even though I only studied the topic for around 6 weeks. It was really inspiring that people were treating me like I really knew things about social media and the rules and restrictions. The reason this was inspiring was because it shows that if you do enough research, it’s easy to talk about something. All you need to do is put yourself out there, and people will listen in. Just because you are a kid doesn’t mean that you don’t know what you are talking about.

Millie: What I found most inspiring is that throughout this process I have really felt like grownups have wanted to listen to what I’m saying because I am talking with passion and knowledge. PIF really taught me that if I speak up for something that I really believe in, or feel passionate about it, I can really make a change. I am planning on continuing lobbying to people who I think can make a difference, and spreading the word that this is an issue that needs to be stopped. I am going to lobby to Jim Risch (the chairman on the U.S committee of Foreign Relations), but I am not going to stop there. I am going to lobby to people who will listen. I definitely want to keep on fighting because this issue is far from over.

Miranda: I found that pay if forward was very inspiring because I now know that I can actually make a difference and make a change in big issues in the world. I can do the research and make art and put all of this into different forms of representation and it could change something. PIF also taught me to be more aware of food insecurity and how much it affects people. I still have to send my lobbying speech to the Secretary of Agriculture, which I am hoping will change something. I will also try to speak up for people with food insecurity and hopefully do more research and learn more.

Natalie - Over this time, everyone had been working so hard on these projects and it really showed. Everyone really cared about their topics and you could tell that they wanted to make a difference in the world. What it taught me about myself was that I am willing to work hard on a topic that I care about and that I can remember important information in a short period of time. It also taught me that I am a very progressive worker if it is something that I really care about. The thing that I plan to do next, is to contact the person that I lobbied, Sonny Perdue who is the U.S Secretary of Agriculture.

Naz: My age and gender, which usually drown out anything I try to contribute, were not overlooked or used to silence me. Instead, the information I shared spoke for itself. This project taught me in every injustice we addressed, the importance of every single person who has been affected. You see so many statistics depicting the extent of the problem, but it’s easy to forget that inside every demographic showing the millions contain so many ones. I am planning to lobby to senators voting on a bill to end the biased handling of sexual harassment in congress.

Noelle: Something that I found really inspiring was people willing to listen and have a conversation with me about my topic. I thought that people being interested to learn about topics that they may not know that much about was also really inspiring. Seeing all of my classmates working hard on researching and learning made me work harder and it also gave me inspiration to keep working hard and doing my best work throughout the whole PIF process.

Paige: The part of the Pay it forward project I found most inspiring was seeing that there was a bill getting introduced about my cause. The project taught me that I can be a really good artist if I challenge myself enough and it a lot of effort into it and believe in myself. I plan to email the house rep that introduced the bill and send my lobbying speech to them.

Rakefet: PIF allows adults and youth to be in a collaborative space where everybody listens to everybody, and everybody feels respected when the adults and siblings asked questions. I think it taught me that I am really good at being social and that ability is very helpful when speaking to large groups of people and public speaking stuff like that.

Sadira: What I thought was the most inspiring was seeing everyones projects all put together at the end, and hearing everything the people I interviewed had to say. It taught me that when I care about a topic a lot I can really do a lot with it and learn. If I do something further, I would work more on my speech and lobbying letter and then send it to someone in power.

Viren: I learned that after last night, I care more about my topic now then I did before and I really want to learn more so that I can do more to help cats’ not be abused and neglected as much as they are at this time. I am going to be going and teaching 2nd-grade class tomorrow about how to care for a cat and be able to read a situation and properly care for an animal instead of doing only what they want to do.

Zoe: What I found inspiring was that people were really invested in my project. I had very interesting conversations with some of the people who visited my poster and that made me feel that successfully created a presentation that allowed my viewers to go deeper and drew them into the problem, impacts and solutions. I am planning to print out my lobbying speech and mail it to the superintendent. I was also really passionate about the topic daisy did about ocean plastics, and I found a really cool organization that collects/recycles dental products like toothpaste tubes, floss and toothbrushes that would be sent to the dump. We were thinking about maybe setting up a collection bin at SGS!

7th Grade - Pay it Forward

By Wendy

In Science, we have been focusing on the technology portion of the Pay It Forward project. Students made infographics to depict an important statistic related to their issue. They learned how to use graphics to display the mathematical information and choose/create appropriate images to convey their message. Students then uploaded their infographic and all the research about their topic onto their website designed using Google Sites.

The Pay It Forward culmination is on Tuesday, May 21. There will be snacks provided at 5:45, with official programming beginning at 6:00. Students will be stationed in either the Downstairs Lab, Point Defiance Library, or CMR. Guests will start off in their student’s assigned room (listed below) and will be asked to go through structured rotations of visiting 5 total projects (about 7 minutes per student) and giving feedback. In each rotation, students will be telling you about the root causes of their issue, impacts, stakeholders, and actions to address the root causes. They will share their art piece, spoken word poem, and website. After the structured time (6:45), guests will then be invited to move into the other classrooms to visit other student projects until 7:30. We hope you will come to support our students as they share all that they’ve worked hard to learn and put together!

After Tuesday, we will publish the website link so that you will have the opportunity to see and revisit the work of ALL our 7th grade students.