If people knew the six hundred and fifty middle school students who walk into our building every day, they would stop staying "Better you than me" and "I couldn't do it" and "Bless your heart" and start saying, "You lucky duck!" and "Wish I were you!" and "Where do I apply?"
These teenagers are unique, caring, and ready to conquer the world when shown the first step.
Our 6th, 7th and 8th graders come from all walks of life. They are in foster care, and they are the police chief's son and the mayor's daughter. They are longtime residents of our town, and they are transfer students from out of state. They speak English, and they speak English as a second language. They love theater, and they love baseball.
But as Maya Angelou writes, "I note the obvious differences/between each sort and type/but we are more alike, my friends/than we are unalike."
And that's what I love about our students. They see their differences, but they embrace their similarities. They're just teens and pre-teens trying to be the best versions of themselves every day. We're ALL weird here!
My Project
We used to have a recycling program at our school. We did what we could with empty printer paper boxes and whatever teachers had in their rooms to collect paper and plastic. The teacher who ran the recycling program has since left, and we have had no formal, organized recycling program for two years. It's time.
These cans will provide a consistent, unified, easily recognizable recycling setup in every classroom.
I realize the cost of the project is over the suggested amount, but this is a school-wide endeavor. There is a gung-ho retired teacher, an after-school club, a weekly Advisory period, and a representative at the county solid-waste facility backing our students in this undertaking, and we are committed to making it work.
Students will be collecting, counting, and cleaning everything that comes into the building. We initially are focused on five items with these specific goals: plastic, paper, 100,000 plastic bags (to make jump ropes for phys ed classes and mats for the homeless); 200 lbs. of plastic bottle caps to be melted into a park bench, and 700 pounds of aluminum cans (one pound per student/staff member to raise $215 to pay for the park bench). Students will do all the weighing, sorting, and budgeting.
My own Advisory class took this idea and ran with it, begging for compost piles for our school garden, movies-on-the-lawn fundraisers for tables for a daycare, and class competitions to collect aluminum cans. I don't want a trashcan shortage to slow them down. For $5, you can provide one can; for $15, you've outfitted one entire classroom and given the 100+ students who pass through its doors each day the means to recycle.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Kuhens and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.