Unique to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme students are required to experience the responsibility of completing a significant piece of work over an extended period of time.

The students are encouraged to reflect on their learning and the outcomes of their work. These skills prepare them for success in further study, the workplace and community.

During M3 at Somersfield Academy, students complete the Middle Years Programme Community Project. The community project focuses on the concept of community and service.

It gives students an opportunity to develop an awareness of needs in various communities and address those needs through service learning.

As a consolidation of learning, the community project engages students in a sustained, in-depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community.

The community project is completed individually or in small groups of students.

The choice of the topic for the project is made in consultation with a faculty adviser.

The faculty adviser has the responsibility for supervising the development of the project according to the assessment criteria based on International Baccalaureate Organisation guidelines.

The aims of all Middle Years Programme projects are to encourage and enable students to:

• Participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry within a global context

• Generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth investigation

• Demonstrate the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time

• Communicate effectively in a variety of situations

• Demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of, learning

• Appreciate the process of learning and take pride in their accomplishments

Tracy Stewart, community project co-ordinator, said: “I am excited to be working with this group of M3 students towards their community project goals.

“They have worked very hard in achieving their results and there is a real variety of service and awareness in the community being raised.

Ms Stewart added: “We are doing things a little differently this year and opening our project fair, not only to those who have helped and supported the students in their endeavours but also to the wider community of Bermuda, so that anyone with an interest in community service projects can come and see what these students have achieved through their experiences.”

Neil Varwandkar and Michael Costello

Neurological Disorders Support Group

The main goal of our project was to raise awareness for three neurological disorders: Executive Function Disorder, Tourette’s syndrome and ADHD.

We did this by conducting two interviews with two specialists, Jill Davidson and Sakina Steede, writing two articles in hopes of getting published in the newspaper, presenting to the P6 students, and creating an informational pamphlet that covers all of the disorders.

Some of the skills we learnt were communication and research skills, as we didn’t have that much information, and therefore spent time talking with many people, setting up interviews, writing many e-mails and preparing articles.

Sarai Richardson, Daniel Ringer and Josephine Duerden

Trash into Art

The main goal of our project was to create artwork out of trash collected on the beach and around the island.

This helps the community in Bermuda because the trash in the ocean is harming the sea life.

The plastic consumed by marine life is toxic and leads to a decline in the health of Bermuda’s ocean ecosystem.

This is very impactful for Bermuda and the people who live here.

We created a big artwork showcasing many pieces of plastic we found and will display the artwork around the school to raise awareness about the issue.

Talie Lonfat, Owen Dinsmore and Xavier Lee

Speak With Pride

Our group’s goal is to educate kids of Bermuda about stuttering and to raise awareness about it.

We have raised awareness by presenting to schools and collecting data through questionnaires.

All of the members in our group have a personal connection to stuttering. One of our group members has lived with a stutter for the past nine years.

Socially, stuttering is surrounded by a stigma of the person being nervous and the person not knowing how to speak.

It is ridiculed in public and people affected by it also get bullied.

By educating children in Bermuda, we are providing students with correct information on stuttering with the hope that it will reduce the social stigma.

Maya Rajeh, Daphne Szakats, and Jaedyn Judd

Sunsgreen Overview

For our Community Project, we have raised awareness about reef-safe sunscreens.

Reef-safe sunscreens don’t contain oxybenzone and octinoxate, which are the chemicals that harm the reefs.

We decided that this would be an interesting topic because it’s not a well-known issue and it could help save Bermuda’s coral reefs.

We are working with Raw Elements, a reef-safe sunscreen brand, to raise awareness.

Our goals were to educate the youth, locals, and tourists about the problem, to give out free Raw Elements samples to people at beaches, and to install a Raw Elements sunscreen dispenser somewhere on the island.

Safia Attride-Ramella, Myeisha Sharrieff and Arabella Crofts

Help and Hope?

Our goal was to raise awareness about Hope Academy and visit the school, to help and play with the students.

We also have been assisting Hope Academy with their fundraiser ideas and we have suggested some of our own.

We have been raising awareness by contacting the primary classes and presenting to them.

A survey was also created to convince others to volunteer at Hope Academy.

We have fundraised so that we have a team to support Hope Academy in the Annual Bermuda Day (May 24) race.

We also volunteer at Hope Academy twice a week every week from 1.10pm to 2pm during our lunch breaks.

Two of our group members participated in a tag day that Hope Academy had in front of Washington Mall for one hour.

We also participated in the May 24 race and in the bake sale that Hope Academy school has after the race at Bernard’s park.

Siena Bonanno, Isabella White, and Mackai Whitter

Eat to Live, Live to Eat

Our goal for this project was to raise awareness about sugar consumption in Bermuda in hopes to lower the diabetes and obesity rates for our future generations.

Our team has reached this goal by presenting on the consequences of sugar consumption in kids and teens and creating a healthy cookbook containing healthy recipes from the community.

Thomas Quarterly, Laylah Hunt and Nicholas Kempe

Diabetes Bermuda

The aim of our project was to raise funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes as one of our team members is a type 1 diabetic. Type 1 is genetic and non-preventable whereas type 2 diabetes is caused by poor lifestyle, however, the majority of society is unaware of this.

It is important that people understand the difference between the two in case of emergency or just to avoid falsely accusing someone of bad habits.

To raise money for the Bermuda Diabetes Association we conducted a bake sale with a variety of goods, fruits and healthy treats at a bike race whilst educating people on our topic.

We raised awareness by presenting to the primary kids as they are the future generation.

Brandon Medeiros, Haakon Axelson and Faven Brewster

A Home for the Homeless

Since the beginning of this community project, we have volunteered at the Salvation Army where we help serve food as well as clean and set up the kitchen. Now we are planning on conducting a food and clothing donation for the students in the primary division.

The only thing left to do on our list is to create a documentary encompassing information about homelessness in Bermuda, as well as interviews from people who specialise in homelessness in Bermuda.

We hope to make an impact on the lives of the homeless within our community.

Zuri Harrison, Sasha Howland, Christian Ebbin and Sam Lindo

Helping the Homeless

For our group project we intended to give the homeless a voice and provide them with the necessities they need the most.

We travelled to a charitable foundation, Loads of Love, and we interviewed and spoke with the homeless.

Even though these homeless people are in need of financial support, they are still people and we wanted to give them a platform to which they could have a voice and share their story.

So, on most Saturdays, we travelled to Loads of Love and interviewed the homeless using audio and video technology.

In the second half of our project, we gathered donations from the community that we could donate to the homeless and those in need. We were able to gather more donations then we expected and that put a smile on everyone’s face. On Saturday May 18, 2019, we travelled back to Loads of Love with our donations in hand and we gifted the donations to the homeless.

It put a smile on our faces to see a smile on theirs.