LISBON — Students in Kyle Beeton’s sixth-grade class at P.W. Sugg Middle School recently completed a service-learning project, Spruce Up Sugg, designed to use math concepts to help provide a springboard for making improvements to the landscaping around the front of the school.
Students worked with Beeton, their math teacher, as well as with Michelle Huston, Jobs for Maine’s Graduates teacher, over the course of five weeks. Students measured circumference, area and volume as well as calculated material costs. The students used materials Assistant Principal Julie Colello acquired from Lowe’s through a donation request in addition to a generous donation from the Stevens family; Gretchen Stevens is the school’s guidance counselor, and Mark Stevens is the director of Lisbon Parks and Recreation. Their daughter, MaKayla Stevens, also teaches sixth-grade students at Sugg Middle School.
Throughout the project, students learned new math concepts and how they can be used for real world applications; in reality, they learned much more. They discovered getting messy and working in the dirt is fun. They discovered how to take a project from concept to completion. They discovered you don’t always get everything you ask for, but you can make do with what you have. They discovered people are willing to help out those willing to put in the hard work. They learned to take pride in their community and that good things don’t need to come from someone else; they can come from your own hard work.
