(L-R) Alina Stewart, Shayla Hendrix and Amanda Bober are encouraging their classmates to spend more time being active than staying inside watching TV
Kids can do anything that they set their minds to, if only they are given the opportunity. Recently, a project at Randall Middle School gave the students in Jeff Rawlins and Cindy Hardy’s English honors class the task to change the world and they did just that.
Elizabeth Patrick, Ryan Grabau and Bailey Kreinbrink chose animal abuse as their topic. The trio put together an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) type of commercial in order to persuade people to help fight crimes against animals. “Both of my dogs are rescue dogs, so this topic was very important to me,” said Patrick. The group has proposed a ‘dog wash’, where volunteers would wash dogs and all the money raised would go to ASPCA.
Another impressive project was put together by Dylan Shaw, Chase Lackmann and Josh Fowler, who want to persuade their fellow classmates not to text and drive (once they have a license, that is). “We saw in the news that texting and driving has become an increasing problem,” said Shaw. “Texting is like an addiction and people feel like they need to respond right away, even when driving. It’s dangerous and not worth any potential accident that could happen.” The group even made a Facebook page, encouraging others to sign a pledge not to text and drive. ‘Like’ the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stoptextinganddrivingfishhawk.
Shayla Hendrix, Alina Stewart and Amanda Bober chose to encourage their classmates to go outside instead of staying inside and watching TV or playing video games. “We want to try and encourage broadcasting stations to turn off their programs for an hour or so each day so that people will be inspired to go outside and get active,” said Hendrix. “The earlier these habits start, the more likely it is that good behavior will carry over into adulthood.”
Both Rawlins and Hardy were extremely happy with how the student’s projects turned out. Rawlins said, “This proves the point that we have been talking about, that kids are capable of so much more than we give them credit for. These projects show that these kids can and will make a difference.”
Randall is located at 16510 Fishhawk Blvd. in Lithia. Visit randall.mysdhc.org.
