AUDIO LOGO] MACKENZIE MORIARTY: They’re able to exhibit something to the people that they know. That here’s why this is important, and I’m going to see this right now.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ALEX: So everyone at our school has the ability during these exhibitions to showcase their personal work that they’ve done, whether it’s individually or what they’ve contributed to a group project.

CHRIS OLIVAS: When I’m starting a project, sometimes I start with how I’m hoping a student will grow individually. And knowing students is really important for that in the beginning and planning leading up to exhibition, and then actually allow students to personalize that.

ALEX: It’s really amazing with kids that you don’t know that well or you don’t know their families that well, and you get to have the ability to know them better through seeing them interact with their families.

MACKENZIE MORIARTY: At exhibition. Everyone has created this thing that is going to live on in the community, but in a way that fits each student individually.

ABIGAIL: Definitely, I’m able to show myself by customizing it to a certain degree. I definitely want to go into engineering, so I try to make my projects as physical as possible, be that building something or researching something.

ALEX: With all of the projects that we have here, there’s a big opportunity to put ourselves into it. And so during the exhibitions, even though there’s the same project outline, every individual has something unique to contribute that they share to the public.

BRITTANY PERRO: If a student is not really used to public speaking, making sure that that student has plenty of time before the exhibition to practice what it is that they are going to say many times in front of maybe a partner, then a small audience, then a larger audience.

ASHLEY: What encourages me is my teachers feedback. So if they say that my work is really good, then that makes me feel good about myself.

HARRISON: I think it’s very interesting how people have their own storytelling skills. For myself, I tend to go for a more enthusiastic approach. And then others, they might do the same or they might just go off the script.

MACKENZIE MORIARTY: How do we get all the kids toward a similar end goal that also is personalized to what each of them are interested in? And I think it’s easier for them to explain in an exhibition space why their project was important or how their project will continue to be important after that one night.

CHRIS OLIVAS: Students really surprise teachers, family members, community partners, and especially themselves. They really find their own voice. And I think like that part right there, it only comes out in exhibition.

[MUSIC PLAYING]