Students attending Foothill are required to complete specific grade level projects each year. For seniors, this would be the Hero Project, but for freshmen, this happens to be the 9th Grade Eco-Project set to be presented Monday, December 14.
The 9th Grade Project was introduced to Foothill 9 years ago when Foothill was first established.
“It was originally an English-based project,” said Conni Carr, an EDA teacher here at Foothill.
“We changed the project about 4 to 5 years (ago) from English oriented to Biology oriented,” Carr stated.
This year’s eco-project has posed freshmen students with the question of how the daily human life affects our biosphere. Students are urged “to think globally about the human footprint… (left) on our biosphere” and are challenged “to act locally and make a difference”.
Students are required to research their specific topic, make a collage images relating to it, and create speeches to deliver on December 14 that identify their biome and two environmental concerns- an environmental issue and the fate to an endangered species found in that biome.
“I had to research 10 pages of notes for Geography and write a speech from that. I had to memorize it and present it in front of people,” said freshman Michael Lopez.
Students have been working in their Biology, EDA, English, Geography, and FIRE classes to prepare for this project, although points will only be given in for Biology and EDA.
“My English, EDA, Geography, and Biology classes are going to be affected,” Lopez explained in an interview.
While past Freshman have been stressed by one major due date, this year’s freshmen have been busy keeping up with specified due dates to help them prepare for this project.
To help take the edge off presentation day, sophomore Hannah Alday offers some advice on how to prepare for the speech giving portion of the project.
She recommended “practicing (it) a lot and bringing it in to your teachers. I put mine onto note cards… that really helped.”
Alday said “(that if you) don’t completely slack off, then it won’t kill your grade. I probably practiced two times beforehand; it really is no big deal.”
To learn more about this year’s 9th Grade Eco-Project, click here.
Photo: Kylie Keyser and Clare Haffner working busily on preparing for their 9th Grade Project.
