This year, eighth grade students throughout Malden are completing Community Service Learning projects as a part of their Social Studies curriculum. The students at the Linden School are generating projects that are dedicated to raising school spirit, promoting positive self-image, promoting drug-resistance, and raising awareness about domestic violence and its effects.

Students have worked very hard to plan and implement their project objectives. They have and will continue to do extensive research and will have local experts coming in to teach them even more about their chosen topics. Their projects are planned and set to be fully completed this spring!

Some of the projects at Linden include:

• Creating a virtual memorial (website) to honor victims of domestic violence
• Creating an after-school anti-drug club
• Filming public service announcements about the physical and socio-emotional effects of drug usage and domestic violence
• Running a positive self-esteem campaign throughout the school to promote a healthy self-image
• Running various fundraisers and food drives to benefit local shelters and rehabilitation facilities
• Creating an advertising campaign promoting resources for victims of domestic abuse

On December 13^th, students attended Generation Citizen’s annual Civics Day in the Great Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House. The students met with and were judged by state senators such as Senator Katherine Clark and Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly and representatives such as Representative Gloria L. Fox. All of the project teams did a fantastic job presenting their civics projects and were thrilled to be in the State House meeting with state officials.

The Linden School students were honored to be awarded the grand prize of the day, being named “Outstanding Change Makers, who are engaged, educated, and empowered to improve their community.”  We are very proud of the hard work, energy, and passion our students have put into these projects. Stay tuned…there’s more to come from these students!