7th Graders Study How Communities Come Together Despite Their Differences
Photos by Shelly Newman 

The seventh graders read about 13 diverse characters and analyzed how their emotional, cultural, and physical barriers were broken down after they unite to achieve a common goal: turning a vacant neighborhood lot filled with trash into a beautiful garden.

At the conclusion of the literary study, the students advocated for a particular character in the novel by making presentations to their classmates. The students identified reasons why their individual character should win the “City of Cleveland Citizenship Award” based not only on their unique personality traits but also on how they individually and collectively contributed to the Gibb Street Garden, which positively transformed a community.