Claire Johnson

Hey, I'm Claire! Welcome to Beechwood's STEM lab. IB Prep was a new class for me this year, but I've learned a lot not just about computers, but about time management, working hard and being responsible and a team player (like on BBTV, the newscast our eighth grade films and produces each week). Everyone has to do the best of their ability to make the newscast successful. We have a lot of projects and assignments, so if you walk in on a usual morning, everyone is either in groups or at tables with laptops working hard on their assignments. We just turned in movies for something called the Great American No Bull Challenge. Each class was split up into groups of eight or nine and we created a movie about cyber bullying. Some movies just had statistics and facts about cyber bullying, some had characters and showed examples of cyber bullying, and some had both. Another project we've been working on since the beginning of the school year is our 20% projects. This project is year long, focused on something of interest to us that we research and learn about throughout the year by completing projects. The subject can be a job, organization, or passion. Around each new trimester, we are given a set of projects like comic strips, newsletters, interviews, movies and songs to name a few. We must complete three or four out of the list. The 20% project is interesting because you continue to grow in your knowledge more than you thought you could about something. Being part of the STEM lab is great, and focused on hard work, IB traits such as being balanced, open minded, and knowledgable. These are the goals set for us so we can grow not just as students, but as people.