BYMS students present in front of peers following yearlong project aimed at bettering the community

Students in Ms. De Friese’s English Language Arts classes at Bernardo Yorba Middle School have been working on a yearlong “#GrowthGenius” project.  After attending the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) Google Summit in August 2017, Ms. De Friese took the lessons shared from Jeffery Heil highlighting Brookhouser’s “The 20time Project” and Trey Macintyre’s “Dive into Inquiry” as inspiration.

Students created projects to better themselves or serve others in the community. Projects ranged from setting personal academic or athletic goals to donations for the homeless, CHOC hospital, and the Ronald McDonald House.  After creating websites, the Matadors even blogged about their progress.  The focus of the project was the student journey emphasizing the importance of time management, organization, over coming setbacks, and problem solving rather than generating “tadah” results.

Click here to see some of the students’ website and blog examples for the project.

Here is what some students said about the project:
Jessica Mitchell
Project: Ocean Clean Up
“My favorite moment was sharing my hard work with everyone.”

Emma Malone
Project: Ocean Clean Up
“The process was fun.”

McKenna Overman
“My favorite part was watching other people present.”

Jeremyah Siller
“Everyone had a funny and serious presentation.”

Jorden Pritchett
“My favorite moment was making my slides.”