OUR JOURNEY

Throughout our capstone project, we had multiple tasks and assignments that taught us so much knowledge. We not only learned about food insecurity, but also how to handle everything professionally. The highlight of our capstone project was getting to speak to adults in the food insecure world. From the beginning of this project, we were supposed to compose a video that would explain why food insecurity should be Congress’s number one concern. The making of this video taught us a lot about what everyone facing food insecurity has to go through on a daily basis. After the video, we started to talk about how to expand our project into something that could make an impact on food insecurity, so our group decided to write an article

Nine eighth-graders went to the Just One Project headquarters on North Decatur Boulevard on Friday, March 31, 2023, to assist with packing food boxes for the elderly. Erin Koester, the volunteer organizer, welcomed us and distributed our assignments as soon as we arrived. We began working right away. Four of us put the food that would be delivered to the elderly into double-bagged brown grocery bags. The rest of us began stocking various foods for an assembly line: a variety of nourishing and nutrient-dense canned foods, such as apples, peaches, sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes, pinto beans, salmon, chicken, cartons of milk, apple juice, cereal, rice, and grits. Using our completed stock, we packed boxes of food for senior citizens. That day, we packed 200 boxes – two pallets-worth – of food.

What We Felt

Volunteering was never a constant in our lives. Everything has always been handed to us, and we don’t realize the privileges we have. That day, we were among the fortunate individuals with the opportunity to experience passion, a passion for helping others. Our hearts were filled with joy as we gazed at those pallets piled high with boxes. We felt accomplished that day. We realized it doesn’t take a lot to make sure someone doesn’t go to bed hungry. In those 3.5 hours, we helped over 200 seniors, seniors who would otherwise starve if we hadn’t volunteered on that exact day, at that exact moment. Meeting various people involved in the nonprofit industry provided us with a vast amount of knowledge. Everyone we spoke with had something to teach us, something we had never heard before. “Food is not a privilege; it’s a right.” Not only did we find out how to make a change in this world, we also learned how to make a change in ourselves. Because of this charity, lots of the volunteers wanted to make a bigger difference and have started to volunteer more often.

Connection To Genius Hour

In the seventh grade, we participated in Genius Hour, a structured class that taught students about using their creativity to invent a solution to a problem so we could improve Dawson. Whether it was decreasing the number of balls that get lost at recess or trying to improve the campus as a whole, we all made a change. Later, we would have to learn the basics of sending an email, creating an engaging and interesting presentation, and pitching and presenting our idea to a panel of judges. Throughout our eighthgrade capstone project, we naturally had a sense of how to address adults in emails and how to pitch our ideas to teachers because of the skills we learned during our Genius Hour class. In addition to Genius Hour helping us with our presentation skills, we were also able to learn how to become changemakers. We realized our ability to find a passion for an issue and then take action for its benefit. Our success throughout the final capstone project can mostly be credited to our participation in the seventh-grade Genius Hour insights class.