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Middle schoolers in TomTod Ideas’ What If 101 program at Oakwood Middle School are hard at work on their What If You Could projects this fall, imagining and acting on ways to better their school and community.
TomTod is a youth development nonprofit based in Canton that listens to, honors and advocates for middle school students. Through in-school classes, after-school clubs and week-long summer camps, middle schoolers are exposed to the needs in their community and encouraged to explore and launch ideas with empathy and imagination to help their community thrive.
What If 101 is a school-based program that connects middle school students to their community by challenging them to see themselves as community leaders. What If 101 leverages project-based, problem-based and place-based learning in ways that unlock middle schoolers’ innate altruism.
More: The Heart of Stark: Program aims to train leaders in Stark County neighborhoods
Using real-world topics as its landscape, What If 101 explores the needs of students’ local community, instructs them in real-world research and project management skills and allows students to develop, pitch and enact their own ideas through the second part of the programming: What If You Could.
The project-based mentoring program is incorporated once a week in an existing classroom and guides teams of middle schoolers through the process of prototyping and piloting their ideas in their community. Supported by a TomTod adventure curator, each team is connected to community resources, idea advocates and seed funding to launch their idea.
Along with Plain Local Schools, Canton City Schools and Barberton City Schools are also implementing What If 101 programming into their middle school classrooms this year.
Furthering the ideas developed during the programming last school year, which include a new space to improve mental health and a project of meaningful connection with seniors, Oakwood Middle School students participating in What If You Could are already working toward implementation.
After conversations surrounding mental health challenges and the positive impact time spent outdoors can have, students from Oakwood Middle School created a vision for an outdoor courtyard at their school.
The Eagles Nest is designed to improve mental health by providing a space for students to eat lunch, engage in outdoor activities and even hold outdoor classes. With a Star Grant secured from the Plain Local Schools Foundation, these students are ready to make their idea a reality.
With funding secured from ArtsinStark and creative expertise from local photographer Jude Anderson of LovelyInk Creative, seventh graders from Oakwood Middle School will be connecting with those at various senior living communities across Stark County, gathering stories and photographs, engaging in activities and games and capturing the wisdom and experiences of our elders.
Named the Eldercare Project, the gathered stories and photographs will be transformed into a coffee-table book to permanently display the memories and connection.
Through TomTod’s programming, students are encouraged to tackle challenges and are provided with connections, resources and mentorship that empower them to feel confident about driving change and making a difference.
Learn more at www.tomtodideas.org.
Stark Community Foundation helps individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their philanthropic goals. Learn more at www.starkcf.org.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Oakwood Middle Schools students tackle What If project
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