Bristol School eighth grade class studies — and works to help — hunger
The Bristol School eighth grade class raised money and awareness to address the issue of hunger in the community. This was the culminating project of a cross-curricular unit in literature and science. In literature, students completed reading The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen in which they learned about the Malthusian Principle of Population , a principle authored by Thomas Malthus, in which he proposes that ultimately our population will outgrow our food source leading to worldwide famine. In the novel, the main character, Mason, discovers that his father addresses this issue by attempting to create an autotrophic society. In science, students studied photosynthesis, autotrophs and heterotrophs. As a final project, students were put into groups and had to address the issue of hunger in the world’s most starving nations. They needed to budget an imaginary $1,000 while figuring out how to best use the funds to help combat hunger. The students then extended their learning by participating in a community service learning project called Hoops for Hunger. Over the course of two weeks, students solicited sponsors as they commited to hula hooping and shooting hoops for one full hour on Wednesday, Oct. 31, from 3 to 4 pm in the Bristol School gym. Through this service project, the class raised an amazing $945. All proceeds will be donated to The Sharing Center. During the Hoops for Hunger event, students wore tee-shirts designed by an eighth grade artist. The 8th grade class will be revisiting the issue of hunger in our community throughout the year.