Climate activist and Time magazine’s Person of the Year Greta Thunberg may not know the names of the second and third graders at High Meadows School, but she can be rest assured a group of 18 young people are also doing their part to draw attention to important issues.
For four weeks in October, the students at the Roswell school were part of the Climate Action Project, a global initiative that virtually connects 100,000 kids from 100 countries so they can brainstorm, research, develop ideas and come up with solutions to the worldwide problems connected to climate.
At High Meadows, the entire 335-student body is aware of sustainable development goals established by the United Nations, so the chance to be part of a global network was not to be missed. Each class decided how to participate, and for 18 second- and third-graders, the choice was to write and perform a song they could share with their new community of like-minded friends.
The project began with researching topics and sharing ideas to create lyrics.
“Several students had prior knowledge and talked about it, and others did research in class,” said music teacher Paula Williams. “Then they gave their feelings about what they’d found, and they saw what everyone’s ideas were. We brainstormed and discussed, and finally picked the most meaningful topics.”
Solar power and clean energy led the list that then went to music teacher and guitarist Jimmy West for the next step: setting the words and ideas to music.
“I put all the chords on the board, we listened to them and got feedback on how it all sounded,” he said. “Eventually, we narrowed it down to two chords and built bridge chords to get the foundation to the song.”
West also got input on his strumming style and the pacing. “After that, we threw all the ideas on the board and pieced together the words,” he said.
Third grader Maddie Gray was excited by and curious about the process.
“I was wondering how we would do it,” said the 8-year-old. “I never wrote a song before. But it was pretty easy.”
The finished piece is called “Breaking Down,” a 2.5-minute song the students learned by heart and then taught to other classes. They also performed it for families during concerts at the end of November and posted it online.
Gray hopes the song sparks some serious conversations. “I like that this song will get people thinking about climate and will help to do something about it.”
To watch a video of students performing “Breaking Down, “go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBYHjEexRyY&feature=youtu.be.
Information about High Meadows is online at highmeadows.org.
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Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
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