Middle School Students Put Thanks and Giving into Curriculum

Each year Santa Barbara Middle School (SBMS) leads their students into the Thanksgiving holiday by fanning them out into the community to volunteer and experience the ways of the working world. Ninth grade students choose to participate by doing community service at non-profits such as Unity Shoppe and Hillside House, while seventh and eighth grade students are taken in by local businesses for Career Study week. And this year, Santa Barbara Middle School’s sixth graders will create a video highlighting the difference between a job and a career.

SBMS Learning Specialist and 6th grade teacher, Caroline DeLoreto, along with Kyra Lehman, Proximity Theater founder, says this year’s sixth grade theme is to explore: “What makes life worth living?” The students will interview cooks, farmers, Hollywood studio executives, the homeless, and passers-by on our local streets. “Our intent is to focus on what it means to be human, what gets you up in the morning; making kids aware of their options, and encouraging them to find work that makes them excited.”

A true hands-on exposure to the real working world during Career Study week is the goal for the seventh and eighth grade students. Local businesses of all kinds show SBMS students the ways of the business world with a 25-hour work-week. Admissions Director, Whitney Ingersoll, spearheads the program. “It’s a real gift what these volunteer companies are doing to help our students. Our school really appreciates it.”