By Kaitlin Candelaria
Companies such as Google and 3M are known for their 20 percent programs that allow employees to devote one day a week of their work time to an independent project. These programs, which have been hailed as innovative, inspired Shades Cahaba Elementary School Gifted Education Specialist DeShaundra Johnson.
Johnson implemented a 20 percent project for her fifth-grade enrichment students at Shades Cahaba this year. The students, who attend enrichment classes with Johnson one day a week, were given 20 percent of their four-hour time period with her to work on independent projects centered on the theme of helping people. Students partnered up based on their interests and goals.
“Most of the projects involved the entire school giving to a cause,” Johnson said. “I feel that it helped students see beyond themselves.”
Students chose projects ranging from donating canned foods to the Firehouse Shelter in downtown Birmingham to raising money for Ebola research.
“It gave my students an opportunity to practice executive skills such as organization, decision making, project management, time management, adaptability, goal setting and collaboration,” Johnson said. “They also used research, technology and communication skills. These are skills that are emphasized in the new Gifted Education Program Scope and Sequence.”
The students will also give a digital presentation in May in front of a live audience. The students titled the presentation “L.I.G.H.T.” or “Learning to Inspire and Giving Hope Together.”
Anna-Li Bateman chose raising awareness for childhood cancer as her 20 percent project topic. Bateman lost a friend, Kylie, to Ewing’s sarcoma. She originally wanted to raise funds for Smiling for Kylie, a charity started to honor her friend. Smiling for Kylie encouraged people to post photos of themselves smiling to boost Kylie’s spirits throughout her treatment.
However, after Kylie passed away in February, Bateman chose to raise money in her friend’s memory instead. She was able to raise $106.65 by creating a presentation and taking it around to different classrooms and collecting donations. After speaking with Kylie’s family, she decided to donate the money to Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer research.
Bailey Levering focused on a topic that hits very close to home for her — raising awareness about genetically modified organisms and the allergies and conditions they can cause. Levering suffers from severe allergies to corn and cow’s milk and has dealt with many health problems because of this.
“My allergies and having to eat specific things every single day is sometimes really hard for me,” Levering said. “I’m writing a letter to the president to say ‘Hey! We need to label GMOs!’”
Alex Cochrane and Thomas Roney chose to donate food to the Old Firehouse Shelter after becoming inspired by t pastor Rick Wood. Wood frequently fed the homeless until he was stopped for not having a proper permit. The two boys said they wanted the homeless to be fed. Through their 20 percent program, they collected 312 cans of food to donate to the shelter.
Caroline Crimi and Maddie Griffin also chose a local charity for their 20 percent project. Last year, Griffin’s neighbor donated money to the Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham and received a letter from a child who had stayed there.
“It said ‘I don’t know you, but you’re already my best friend because you’ve helped me,’” Crimi said. “We just felt that if their donating money made that child so happy, how much of a difference could we make with the whole school behind us?”
The two girls set out to collect pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House and were able to collect 35,465 pop tabs, which amounts to 28 pounds worth. The Ronald McDonald House then sells the aluminum tabs for funding for their programs.
Alan Mobley-Burgos and Chase Hoover focused on supporting one of their former Extended Day Program counselors, Zach Isabel. Isabel has started a program to raise funds for after-school scholarships for students whose parents may not be able to afford to send their children to the Extended Day Program.
“What kind of got me started is that we used to go to the EDP, and there was one counselor there who really inspired us and shaped us into who we are today,” Hoover said. “He recently left, and we’re trying to follow in his footsteps by helping others who can’t afford (EDP).”
Mobley-Burgos and Hoover are supporting that mission by organizing a run that will take place during their physical education period on May 12.
Bella Nichols and Lily Prewitt wanted to help children in Alabama who don’t have access to educational resources. They partnered with an organization called Better Basics to host a book drive April 6-17.
“My connection with this is my family loves books and I love books in general,” Nichols said. “Seeing that I can help other people with something I love really makes me happy.”
Together, the girls were able to donate over 200 books, they said.
Harrison Sims and Parker Wallace wanted to help a child who is battling a life-threatening illness. Shades Cahaba Elementary School is currently partnered with the Make-a-Wish foundation to raise money for a child’s wish trip to Disney World. Wallace and Sims contributed to that by raising $600.50 for her trip through an independent yard sale.
With their contribution, Shades Cahaba was able to raise $5,470.60.
Sid Warren and James Spencer set out to help people suffering from Ebola in West Africa. Spencer’s mother, Amelia Spencer, a professor at Birmingham-Southern College, has traveled to West Africa and taken students with her to teach English to natives.
This year, her trip was canceled due to the Ebola outbreak, which inspired Spencer and Warren to make a difference. They decided to raise money to help eradicate the virus while also educating people about the seriousness of the epidemic.
“Whenever it blew up all over the news, a lot of people were joking around about Ebola,” Warren said. “They’d say things like ‘Oh you’re sick, you must have Ebola! You’re going to die!’ and we wanted to show people that it isn’t funny, it’s really serious.”
The two students sold bracelets for their cause and were able to donate over $600 to the Centers for Disease Control.
Jaiden Tindall, who lost a family member to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, wanted to use his talents to raise awareness and funding for the disease. He created two different pieces of artwork that are available for purchase on Etsy and is in the process of creating another to sell to raise money to donate to ALS research.
All the students said they took away different things from the project.
“I learned about organization and how to keep my thoughts straight for this project,” Hoover said.
Other students, such as Griffin and Levering, said they learned specific skills, like how to write a business letter.
“I think it definitely teaches us skills that we’ll use for the rest of our lives, like leadership and teamwork,” Crimi said. “I think it was definitely a lot harder than we thought it was going to be in the beginning. I think it helped that Ms. Johnson didn’t police us or look over our shoulders. We had to manage ourselves and make sure that we got our work done.”
This is the second year Johnson has done this project in her classroom, and she is happy with the results, she said.
“I am very impressed with the students’ perseverance,” Johnson said. “They ran into obstacles but did not give up.” ϖ
