As soccer players, Gavin Falvey, Ben Verity, and Marvin Michel have played many games and had many practices on Victory Park. They noticed that it is a popular place for people to walk their dogs, so to improve the community's dog walking experience, they worked to install doggy bag dispensers around the field. This allows dog walkers to easily dispose of their dogs’ waste and also helps the environment and overall appearance of their beloved park.

In order to help out at the Northeast Animal Shelter and Kitty Connection adoption center, a drive was organized for donations such as towels, linens, food, litter, etc.

3rd-graders Delilah and Anayah decided to design posters encouraging people to conserve water, which were then laminated and displayed in the student bathrooms in the school. They chose to do this project because water is a valuable natural resource that we shouldn’t waste. They hope that their posters will remind students to conserve water when using the school bathrooms.

This group of 1st-graders came up with the creative idea of making birdhouses and bird feeders to install around the McGlynn grounds. Their goal was to create spaces to help shelter and protect birds during the winter. With the help and guidance of PTG mom Renee Hanley, these ambitious kids put together wooden birdhouses using kits, then painted and decorated them in different colors and styles, and ultimately hung them from trees all over the McGlynn outdoor grounds.

This group of 4th and 5th graders wanted to do something to help endangered animals, and after some internet research, they found out that the Franklin Park Zoo and the Stone Zoo collect used cell phones to save gorilla habitats. To start, they printed up some coloring pages of gorillas for younger students to color that also tell about the phone donation program. They collected several used electronics that were dropped off at the Stone Zoo in person.

This group of civic-minded 5th-graders opted to continue the work on recycling that some other students started last year. Back in October, they came up with several ideas that they’re currently working their way through. They wrote a letter to Mayor Muccini-Burke’s office, asking what they could do to improve recycling in our school and citywide. The Mayor responded back and asked the students to design a flyer on recycling to be sent out city-wide! The group also made a picture book about recycling that other children can read.

As cat lovers, these students wanted to make a positive impact on the lives of local cats. They decided to hold a “Kitty Collection” to benefit the Kitty Connection Animal Rescue in Medford. They created a flyer that was distributed to all the families at the Roberts. They hung posters around the school to publicize the drive. They collected wet and dry cat food, paper towels and cat toys. It was a great success!

Distraught by all the litter they saw during their cross country practices, students Samuel Cluggish and Stefan Langshur ventured out to Macdonald park and picked up all of the plastic that was littering the waterfront area. In addition, they cleared out the area of excess sticks and dirt that has accumulated over the years, which allows for a cleaner environment for all the people who already frequent the park, and hopefully encourages more people who do not already to enjoy what it has to offer to come and explore.

The Medford Electronic Clean-up is a bi-annual event to help reduce the amount of harmful e-waste that is disposed of incorrectly. We worked with the Mayor’s office to set up these cleanup days as a district-wide event. We accepted electronics such as old computers or computer parts, gaming consoles, phones, monitors, and many others. We then recycled most of the gathered technology to a local electronics recycling plant and reused other gathered technology for fun projects. The goal of the Medford Electronic Clean-up is to reduce toxic materials like mercury, lead, or cadmium, from poisoning the Earth.

Earth Day is an annual event recognized around the world on April 22 to help show support for environmental protection. However, my partner and I understood that it was nearly seven months away. Therefore we refused to wait long and we decided that for us to make a difference we would need to perform an action immediately. Environmental awareness means being aware and cautious of the environment and making choices that benefit the earth. It encourages a sense of bond to the natural world. This year as our project we decided to clean up the park. The purpose of cleaning up the park is to help the environment, give back, and send a simple message to the world. We can all make a difference if we put our differences aside and work toward a common goal.

These second grade boys are concerned with our environment and especially concerned with increasing the understanding of how to protect endangered animals.  They wanted to inform their peers about different animals that were endangered in a different and fun way. So… they came up with making fortune tellers/cootie catchers that kids could play with at lunch.  During the course of the fall session, they identified 3 different animals(tigers, sharks and sea turtles), found facts about those animals, chose pictures of those animals and put all onto a template for a cootie catcher.  Next, came the folding. They folded about 50 different cootie catchers for each animal. The folding and opening game was placed strategically on all the elementary school lunch tables so that students could read the facts and see the pictures when they were done with lunch.

We raised money for Skyland Animal Sanctuary. We sold bracelets and buttons to raise the money. This money was specifically going to medical bills and special food for the animals that need it and of course other stuff. We wanted to do this project because animals are very important to us and we think their lives are worth saving. We also want to help them anyway we could,  and we knew that Skylands was a trustworthy animal sanctuary that is worth all of the money we give them.

Our project focused on the major environmental changes seen in Medford in the past 50 years. We informed people about how these changes could be either beneficial or harmful for years to come. The project combined information from both first and second hand sources. This information is essential to understand because other surrounding cities could get a few tips and pointers and lean towards using our environmental changes. Our final outcome was presented in City Hall in front of the Mayor and other important people in Medford. Our hope is to instill a spirit of environmental activism that transcends generations.

Styrofoam is an incredibly harmful material, not only to the workers who produce it, but it poses a danger to our students and the environment as well. It does not biodegrade, and it ends up polluting our oceans and tainting our seafood. It also poses a humanitarian crisis, by making the factory workers who produce it extremely sick, as well as posing a threat of styrene poisoning by putting hot food on it. For my project, I hope to not just ban styrofoam in Medford High, but extend my project further. Many people are unaware of styrofoam’s threats, or simply do not care to fix this issue, and I hope by raising awareness and gaining support, I will be able to implement a Medford city-wide styrofoam ban.

After noticing a great decrease in the quality of the water in the Mystic River, Capland Cho, Ricky Gomez, Justin Curcio, and Gabriel Suhm got together, working alongside the Mystic River Watershed Association, to plan on cleaning up the river and helping the environment. Their goal and purpose was to promote the cleaning and protecting of the environment, as well as to be a big part in restoring the Mystic River’s water quality. River cleanups are ongoing throughout the year and up to 25 people are able to sign up for a cleanup. Even with the ongoing pandemic, everything is socially distant and safety precautions are followed for safe cleanups.

For this year’s project, Lily Loren and Haley O’Rourke worked in collaboration with the Medford Mayor’s office, the DPW, and the Mystic Watershed Association to organize several different clean-ups around the Mystic River and picked up trash to prevent the water from being polluted. They gathered a group of volunteers and divided into smaller groups to address different areas around the river that needed to be cleaned up (wearing masks and following CDC social distance guidelines). The DPW provided grabbers, gloves, and trash bags to ensure that everything was picked up safely.

These eight student leaders have been working on a project to reduce the amount of plastic utensils used by recommending businesses to give plasticware out on a request only basis. This will help small businesses save money in addition to the reduction of plastic pollution and slow down environmental degradation. They conducted a survey with more than 270 people in the community. Through that survey, they found that nearly 70% of people rarely or never use plastic utensils. And that 85% would request to not receive plastic utensils if given the option to do so.

As a group, the students collectively sanded and painted the benches at Wright’s Pond. The benches were chipped and weathered and needed a new coat of paint. Together, the students got work done with the help of Mr. Bailey, Mr. Skorker, and Anthony. This project allowed us to continue beautifying our wonderful city.

Naomie Pierre, Baban Gill, Oprah Nkera, and Eleanor Nkera’s project is called Seeds to Feed. The group planted a harvest to donate to the Mystic Community Market. With these vegetables, they wanted to help by planting a variety of different fruits and vegetables so people have easy access to food. This pandemic left many families to worry about their next meals. Seeds to Feed donated over 60 pounds of fresh, local Asian Pears. Therefore, the group wanted to give them their help, and support during these tough times. This all happened at the garden in MHS, which is run by Mrs. Retta Smith.

The Mystic River Bank Project took place at MacDonald Park on November 7th, 2021. This project was organized by the members of CCSR and funded by The Mystic River Watershed Association, the Cummings Foundation, and the Krystle Campbell Community Betterment Project. From 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, volunteers gathered by the river and picked up trash and other disposables from its banks, creating a cleaner habitat and environment.