Middle School Passion Projects

Middle School students studied everything from astronauts and the environment to magic and fashion design this winter with a little help from some outside experts, including Old Boys, current parents, and friends of the School.

The pandemic provided an opportunity to think differently about our offerings at St. Andrew’s. The weekly academic schedule was adjusted, which led the Middle School team to develop Avant-Garde Wednesday, a day when the boys focus on interdisciplinary and project-based learning (PBL), outdoor education, coding, and community service.

What emerged was a nine-week plan for students to develop a Passion Project. Instead of earning a grade for their projects, they learned valuable lessons about time management, resource gathering, networking, flexibility, work ethic, and resiliency.

“The main goal of the project was to allow students to explore their interests and share their findings with their peers,” says Colby Dockerty, Grade 6 teacher, who co-designed this program with Paul Totera, Middle School science teacher. Rather than a typical research project where students pick a subject and give a presentation, the Passion Project required students to identify a problem or area of interest and develop an original solution or product.

Thanks to the School’s Advancement team, when students came upon a challenge, they had plenty of people to draw upon in fields that matched their unique interests.

“The Old Boys were excited to share their expertise in hopes a young Andrean would build on his curiosity and interest in coding or real estate or web design,” says Nicholas Weedon ’02, Associate Director of Advancement. “They were more than willing to give their time, energy, and knowledge to the Middle School students.”

“The participating parents, Old Boys, and friends showed our students what it means to be passionate about something,” adds Colby. “It was great to see how excited they were to answer questions and went above and beyond our expectations by conducting their own research, drawing upon the networks they’ve built up if they didn’t have an answer, and providing our students with advice to help them get organized and develop a plan of action.”

Some notable connections were also established outside the participating experts. Ibrahim Rahman, Grade 8, interviewed a Nigerien official from Islamic Relief for more information about the country’s water crisis. He discovered that speaking to someone on the ground provided essential insights, including how dangerous solving this problem could be. Owen Ramon, Grade 6, worked with our very own CC Chang, IT Services Coordinator, to build a CPU so he could run a flight simulator program.

Caden Smith, Grade 6, was the winner of the Passion Project challenge. His video presentation on magic was designed to lift our spirits during this difficult time. He certainly had many smiling, laughing, and asking, “How did he do that?” Caden also had us tapping our feet to a rocking AC/DC tune. “I learned that magic looks easy, but it’s really not,” he says. “It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and practice to get the best final results.”

Colby couldn’t agree more. “Students were given a great deal of freedom throughout the project, and those who chose to explore outside their comfort zone excelled.”

Miraj Siddiqui, Grade 8, took his interest in fishing to build the most versatile fishing lure to be used in any freshwater body. “The parts that I liked about working on my Passion Project were being able to make my own lure and baits and learning new things and skills such as 3D printing and how baits are manufactured,” Miraj says. He also learned how to create CAD (computer-aided design) 3D models for 3D printable designs.

Ethan Fleming’s music project saw him compose a song. “It was really fun to play with different notes and rhythms. It was cool to see it come together at the end of the project and be able to listen to something I made myself,” says the Grade 8 Student, and adds that his project has made him a better overall musician.

Other interesting projects included how astronauts might apply cryonics to travel to more distant planets, ways to keep the Earth healthy, how to design a sports uniform, and how the NBA might expand its league by adding another round to their Draft.

“We have been working toward the integration of project-based learning for four years, and these open blocks provide the structure to blend disciplines, develop twenty-first-century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication,” says Sabrina D’Angelo, Assistant Head of School, Director of Middle School, Diversity & Inclusion.

The Passion Projects were a lot like sneaking vegetables into a picky eater’s dinner. The work was so engaging and exploratory that the boys couldn’t help but apply and learn new curriculum – the kind that they will undoubtedly use in their future careers.

However, not all projects worked out. Students also learned the value of commitment and hard work and recognized when the project was not viable and when to pivot to something else.

“The greatest gift it affords our students is the opportunity to hit roadblocks, an opportunity to be part of a team that isn’t working cohesively, the opportunity to fail and recognize that the process does not always run smoothly and the final product is not always creative, effective, or complete,” explains Sabrina.

A common theme mentioned by the boys was the ability to spend class time focused solely on something they loved. For Miraj, that meant watching fishing-related videos; for Ethan, it was listening to his favourite music; and for Caden, it was practicing magic.

The first nine weeks of Avant-Garde Wednesday in the fall focused on the Engineering Design Challenge, where students built floating barges (Grade 5), battering rams (Grade 6), castles (Grade 7), and trebuchets and catapults (Grade 8). All designs had to withstand a series of challenges or attacks. No matter the project, teamwork and problem-solving skills were essential in fostering engineering and technological literacy.

The last nine weeks, the boys used their Avant-Garde time to create a Middle School news show, which required them to research current events, write scripts, film, and edit using Adobe Premiere Pro to complete their final broadcast. To kick-off this section, Tyson Geick ’07 met virtually with the students to speak about his sports broadcasting journey and answer their questions. Their final products premiered during the Focus Festival of the Arts in May. X

Ibrahim Rahman | Grade 8

Caden Smith | Grade 6

Miraj Siddiqui | Grade 8

Ethan Fleming | Grade 8