Sullivan Middle 8th graders give back 10 percent

There’s a stigma about middle schoolers, with folks thinking that preteens are selfish and myopic, only focusing on themselves. However, at Sullivan Middle School, eighth graders are proving just how untrue that statement is.

With the help of middle school teacher Megan Foxley, every eighth grader is involved in the 10 Percent Project.

“[The 10 Percent Project] was something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Foxley. “Other schools do it, calling it the Genius Hour, or 20 Percent Time. It’s basically adapted from Google, which gives their employees 20 percent of their workday back to work on a project of their choosing. We adopted it three years ago.”

Today, approximately 200 students are involved in the project. As a way to help students get started, Foxley and her team bring in local community members, as well as individuals from the county level and state level to talk about concerns they have. The idea is that students will hear about a concern that resonates with them, and will allow them to begin working on a project to address that specific need.

Teachers vet the projects to make sure that the goals set are attainable, and then allow the students to begin working on pitches for their projects. As a culmination of the year’s work, students are able to present their work to their peers on April 5. The top performers get to present before the entire student body, in form of a TED talk.

“It’s inspiring and motivating to upcoming students,” said Joseph Clevenger, the principal at Sullivan Middle School.

“It’s definitely a labor of love, but I don’t think it takes any more time,” said Foxley. “It’s a matter of choices for how I use my energy. We have the biggest economic spread of any district in the county, and the first thought of this project was a way to bring everyone together. The second thought process is that teens tend to be more ego-centered, and this is a way to get outside of themselves, and find a place in the larger world.”

According to Foxley, approximately 25 percent of students do amazing projects that impact the community on a large level, while 50 percent impact their community on a local level, and the remaining 25 percent have a hard time coming up with ideas. And while that might seem like it would have a negative impact, each student learns about their abilities as an individual.

“It’s really dependent on the individual project,” said Foxley. “It builds their confidence to want to do something, take a risk and share an idea by making it public. Then they do something from the beginning to the end. Even those who jump from project to project are taught resilience, and highlights that they need to focus on what their goals are and how they spend their time. Their lack of a topic is a topic in itself.”

Clevenger finds that having so many of his student population involved in a selfless project changes the school dynamics tremendously.

“I can’t put a quantitative number on how this puts an impact on our school, such as how many less referrals we have, or how many less fights, but there is a big impact when students take their time to intentionally go out of their way to help other people. It creates a great culture,” he said. “We crush it with academics, and are continually showing growth with struggling students, but this project looks at the other side, the non-academic part, and shows students how they can have a positive impact on the world as a whole.”

The 10 Percent Project is incorporated into the California standards for writing. Students are required to research a topic, present it, and write their findings. For many, the impact of their research is more than a grade, though; it is a door to new opportunities that they wouldn’t have known were available to them.

“Students figure out how to take a task from start to finish, organizing and carrying it out,” said Clevenger. “We have some who collect blankets for the animal shelter, or new shoes for the local thrift stores and homeless population. We have one girl from the Pala tribe who is collecting clothing for other Native American tribes in the Dakotas, where tribes don’t have the same income generator. We want kids to make a difference, and that is a powerful skill for the future.”

“One student, Cindy Buenrostro, was a foster kid who was adopted. She now lives on a ranch where she has horses and is currently training to become a decathlete,” explained Foxley. “As part of her project, she invited foster kids to her family ranch and showed them stages of a decathlon.”

Other students find ways to incorporate their projects with larger causes. Tristen Smith, who is now a freshman at Fallbrook High School, chose to incorporate his passion of bike riding with the 10 percent project. His research led him to find Wheels 4 Life, which provides low cost bicycles for people in developing countries as a mode of transportation. The program is headed by Hans Rey, a mountain biking and extreme mountain biking Hall of Famer, who also happens to be one of Tristen’s idols.

“I really wanted to use biking to help, but a lot of the information I found online was about how mountain biking isn’t good for the environment, or how it damages nature,” said Tristen. “I was determined to find something good.”

“Rey realized that bikes make a huge difference to people all over the world,” said Jennifer Smith, Tristen’s mother. “Especially in Africa, where a bike can allow a woman to get to work.”

Rey raises money to buy these bikes locally, and a team member works locally with an affiliate to make sure those who receive bikes are given extra supplies to repair their bicycle if necessary.

“It’s an amazing foundation, and Tristen contacted them and asked how he could get involved,” said Jennifer. “Originally, the idea was to have to have a mountain bike ride, but not many can ride that efficiently. We wanted it to be more of a family event.”

The Smiths were able to coordinate a bike ride along the Las Pulgas Trail, which is a flat, seven-mile ride along the coast.

“We also raised money donations and wrote letters to businesses,” said Jennifer. “Tristen was able to raise $2,300, and met the Reys. Hans’ wife, Carmen, asked him where he wanted the money to go, and Tristen and the project decided it would go to Uganda.”

Those funds purchased 23 bicycles for individuals in need. In early December, Tristen was sent pictures of people using the bicycles he purchased for them, along with thank you notes and tokens of gratitude.

“I was expecting some , but it’s super cool to see how thankful they are,” said Tristen. “It’s very heartwarming. A bike, which cost $150, could change a life forever. It could help kids get to school; before they would walk 10 miles, which would take three hours. Now with a bike they are able to get there in 20 to 25 minutes.”

“It was really nice for my son, and to receive it during this time of the year, it was really cool timing," said Jennifer. "The kids in our community have some amazing talents. I have a sixth grader who is looking forward to the project in eighth grade.”

An additional element of the 10 Percent Project is that it also allows for students who do not have many resources to be given support as well, said Foxley.

“One of the parts of the project I’m really working on is to help the population who don’t have as many people to help them,” said Foxley. “This project highlights that discrepancy, and those are the kids that we spend a lot of the time working with. Some kids have parents who both work full time, and don’t have as many resources.”

For those who are interested in helping the projects run by Sullivan students, there are endless ways to support.

“Sometimes there’s a gap between the community and schools, and there are people in the community who want to help schools and don’t know how,” said Foxley. “There’s kids looking for the community to help and support them. We are always looking for ways to make that gap easier to bridge.”

Regardless of the project, these eighth graders are impacted in a completely life-changing way.

“I’m going to school knowing I can make a difference in the world,” said Tristen. “I’m going to do this every year until I graduate.”

For individuals interested in helping with the 10 Percent Project, Clevenger says there is an updated list of projects students are working on available. Community members who are interested in helping or contributing can contact the Sullivan Middle School main office by calling (760) 631-5209.

For those interested in donating directly to Wheels 4 Life, go to www.wheels4life.org. To find out more information Tristen Smith’s Wheels 4 Life fundraiser, email Jennifer Smith at [email protected].