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Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media
Amanda Merritt, 13, left, and Angela Carrozza, 14, display their tie pillows that they made for the homeless, Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessAmanda Merritt, 13, left, and Angela Carrozza, 14, display their tie pillows that they made for the homeless, Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which
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Amanda Merritt, 13, left, and Angela Carrozza, 14, talk about the tie pillows that they made for the homeless, Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessAmanda Merritt, 13, left, and Angela Carrozza, 14, talk about the tie pillows that they made for the homeless, Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which
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Maura Davis, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessMaura Davis, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action
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Jamie Martin, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessJamie Martin, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem
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Caitlyn Murray, 13, left and Kaylyn Castellanos, 14, talk about their involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessCaitlyn Murray, 13, left and Kaylyn Castellanos, 14, talk about their involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up
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Caitlyn Murray, 13, left and Kaylyn Castellanos, 14, talk about their involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessCaitlyn Murray, 13, left and Kaylyn Castellanos, 14, talk about their involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up
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Gabby Furnari, 13, talks about her involvement in Project Citizenship Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessGabby Furnari, 13, talks about her involvement in Project Citizenship Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action
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Elisa Zhaku, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessElisa Zhaku, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they
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Kimberly Leite, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessKimberly Leite, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem
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Giuliana Carretta, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship, Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessGiuliana Carretta, 13, talks about her involvement with Project Citizenship, Friday, May 11, 2018. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with
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Brendan Talbot, a Social Studies teacher at New Fairfield Middle School, calls about his students involvement in Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which encourages students to come up with action plans for a problem they identify in the community or the world, is coming up on its five year anniversary.
lessBrendan Talbot, a Social Studies teacher at New Fairfield Middle School, calls about his students involvement in Project Citizenship. A New Fairfield Middle School program called Project Citizenship, which
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These students and teacher Brendan Talbot, right, are involved in a program called Project Citizenship at New Fairfield Middle School. Photo Friday, May 11, 2018.
These students and teacher Brendan Talbot, right, are involved in a program called Project Citizenship at New Fairfield Middle School. Photo Friday, May 11, 2018.
Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media
Elisa Zhaku, left and Jamie Martin, both 13, picked up trash at Hidden Valley Nature Preserve in New Fairfield as part of their inevolvement in Project Citizenship. The girls are students at New Fairfield Middle School.
lessElisa Zhaku, left and Jamie Martin, both 13, picked up trash at Hidden Valley Nature Preserve in New Fairfield as part of their inevolvement in Project Citizenship. The girls are students at New Fairfield
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New Fairfield students take classroom lessons into the real world
NEW FAIRFIELD — In the nearly five years since social studies teacher Brendan Talbot introduced his class to Project Citizenship, his eighth grade students have tackled everything from starting a unified sports program at the high school to helping fight hunger in Africa.
The program, which mirrors an international project-based learning initiative, began in 2013 when teachers were asked to create a “Core 21” project, or a way to connect classroom lessons to the real world. It asks students to identify a problem in their community — whether that be their school, town, state, country or the world — and develop an action plan to help solve it.
Project Citizenship became such a success, Talbot said, that he decided to continue it even after the Core 21 projects ended a few years ago. The program has now had more than 400 students participate.
“It wasn’t just ‘write a paper’ or ‘make a powerpoint’ — it was actually going out there in the real world,” Talbot said. “When you allow them student choice they have some great ideas. There was so much more than just ‘did you learn this?’”
Just this year, his students’ projects have included traveling to Haiti to volunteer with children, collecting and bringing clothes and school supplies to families in Honduras and bringing the “Meatless Monday” initiative to New Fairfield.
The students spend about half the year working on the projects in connection with the civics part of the curriculum, Talbot said. The first step is finding a problem that they are passionate about, he said, which can help motivate them to see it through.
For Amanda Merritt and Angela Carrozza, that problem became the experience of children in homeless shelters. Carrozza said she learned through a Girl Scout project where she made blankets for homeless shelters that many are lacking items to make their stay comfortable.
“(They) told me that a lot of the children that come into homeless shelters come in with nothing but the clothes on their back and a blanket or a pillow is something they really need,” Carrozza said. “We wanted to make something for them that’s homemade and comfortable.”
The pair made about 20 “tie pillows” to give to Harmony House shelter in Danbury.
Talbot said after coming up with an idea, the next step is figuring out who to contact in order to set up an “action plan.” This lets the students learn how the government or other organizations work while building their communication skills.
Elisa Zhaku and Jamie Martin, who organized a litter clean-up at Hidden Valley Nature Center, said at first they didn’t know where to start, but started putting the pieces together by reaching out to First Selectman Pat Del Monaco, who connected them with the nature center’s land trust.
“We learned more along the way,” Martin said. “We were looking on the New Fairfield website to figure out who to contact. Then we had to figure out what we’d need for it — the right attire, garbage bags — and pick a date for it.”
Many of the students said this part could be nerve-racking, because they were the ones contacting, interviewing and working with officials. But, most said by the end they felt confident they could do it again.
“I normally volunteer at my church, so when I was going out and talking to people I never met, it was kind of scary,” said Brooke Nitti, who partnered with Maura Davis to organize a toy drive for children in hospitals. “I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult than it was.”
Some of the students said they hope to continue their initiatives even now that the school project is over. Kimberly Leite and Giuliana Carretta, who aimed to bring Meatless Mondays to the district, said they will look into making it permanent if this upcoming Monday’s ”test menu” goes well.
Talbot said about half the projects through the years have had complete success, but even those that fail can be a learning experience.
Leite agreed that even if their project doesn’t continue, she hopes to use lessons from the Project Citizenship program for other service ideas.
“We can learn what worked and what didn’t work,” Leite said. “Even if it was difficult, we can learn from it.”
aquinn@newstimes.com
https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Fairfield-students-take-classroom-lessons-12908176.php
