8th graders take a stand in the community

Every year at CDS, the eighth grade students work to create a community project. The MYP program pushes students to pursue service- learning and communicate to serve the community. These projects are created and acted on by either individuals or groups of 8th-graders. This year, students are able to showcase their hard work through a showcase on May 3, 2022.

The 8th grade showcase was a special opportunity to share their ideas to others. Students worked very hard to serve our community. Many parents, friends and teachers gathered in the student union to view these projects.

Since most of the community events are being shut down due to COVID, students are able to get back into our community and make a difference. Many things were neglected during that time and COVID had a negative and positive impact on CDS and the Tampa area. The 8th grade students took the responsibility into their own hands to help repair our community after having such a hard hit from COVID.

Students wanted to explain how this project changed their mindset and allowed them to change the way they view others and our community. Avery E. W. said, “My view of the community changed slightly because of my project, my project focused on the environment and CDS’ environmental impact and now I view our community through that type of lense”. She also said that she “plans on continuing my project throughout upper school, and eventually turning it into my personal project”. This community project helped Avery E. W. create a continuous project that has positively impacted the community and helped her grow as a person.

Another 8th grader, Aryan M. explained his project saying, “My community project was a charity bake sale for feeding Tampa Bay. He also did not like the outcome of the sale starting, “ I would honestly redo it because I honestly wasn’t really happy with my results because we only made $53 within two hours”. This project was very creative yet was not as successful as Aryan M. and his team thought it would be.

These 8th graders branched out into the community to create innovative ideas to improve different aspects such as poverty. These were only two examples of the many amazing projects students produced. Community projects are the first step of students getting involved in the community and making a difference.