“The point of the project was to do something different and unique instead of just the average poster board,” student Gracie Perkins said.
Perkins was studying American slavery in the class and learned of the food shortages many slaves suffered through. She and the rest of her class wanted to try to make sure no one suffers like that today in Springfield.
MORE Northeastern to survey residents on $100M new schools plan
“We still have that problem today, not slavery, but we still have food insecure people,” she said.
Chase Perkins, Gracie’s brother, is an operations manager with the Pack Shack and he said the Springfield community and Ohio has a large need.
“When it comes to food insecurity, Ohio is one of the worst in the nation,” Chase Perkins said. “You can fill up Ohio Stadium just a little over six times with the number of just kids that are food insecure right here in Ohio.”
So the class got together and with the food bank developed a plan to help feed people in the community. The class was able to prepare 3,248 meals in about 40 minutes.
“We worked as a team so it was awesome,” she said.
MORE: Clark County: How safe are your schools
Chase Perkins said the work the kids did was important.
The combined class of 44 students has been a success, according to eighth-grade social studies teacher Reed Jones.
“We’re trying to break down the walls between language arts and social studies,” said Reed Jones. “As well as between our school and the community. We’re trying to encourage students to think outside of the box and outside of the classroom.”
The collaborative class is a concept that is being tired more and more. At the Global Impact STEM Academy in Springfield, teachers are constantly combining classes to show students how the work they are doing in class applies to the real world.
Jones said the project the students undertook displays the importance of learning history.
EXTRA: Clark, Champaign Cou nty schools score low on state report cards
“It was a great way to express how studying the past and studying history can have an impact right now and locally right now in 2017,” he said.
“I think a lot of our students are aware of the fact that there is food insecurity or there are people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. I don’t think they’re aware of how localized the issue is and perhaps there are people in our own class, in our own school building that deal with this issue. It remains kind of hidden from their consciousness,” Jones said.
About the Author