The Assignment

After taking the AP Exam in mid-May, students spend their last weeks at school working on their "Your World" project. The assignment asks students to produce a comprehensive campaign that effectively creates positive change toward a clearly identified outcome. Students elect a governing body, identify a relevant environmental problem, create a campaign to address that problem, and implement effective solutions.

Project requirements include:
-outreach materials (websites, flyers, DVDs, scrapbooks, banners) based on a strategic analysis of their target audience
-a group identity (name, logo, slogan, motto)
-student-run fundraising event
-a 15-page research paper on their topic
-a 20-minute presentation to a panel of judges (school administrators, teachers, community environmental leaders, and other students)
-carefully managed financial records
-outreach events for the school and the greater community
-lessons to elementary or middle school classes
-weekly committee reports including individual student work, assignment timelines, and deadlines for student requirements
-professional interaction with all adults and cooperative work with other students and school groups

Their grade is determined by a combination of four separate rubrics: individual student performance, committee performance, classwide evaluation by a panel of judges, and classwide evaluation by the teacher. The final grade depends on their ability to work together, stay on task, create effective results, and meet all deadlines. top

The Projects

Students select and create their own projects in response to the issues they deem important. This year's projects are:
Santa Barbara Green Cuisine
Save Our Steelhead
GasBusters
Swap Til You Drop
EarthWise

2010's projects were:
S.A.V.E. (Student Association for Viable Estuaries)
SB Greenlight
SBEcohub.com
P.A.S.E. (Public Awareness for Simple Efficiency)
SmartStrips

2009's projects were:
S.E.A.
WaterWise
SBGreenCuisine
EnviroDrive
BEACH

2008's projects were:
Discover SB.
Conserve to Preserve.
B.E.A.C.H.
Generation Green.

2007's projects were:
Pro-Environmental Voter.
Project Footprint.
Travel Green.

2006's projects were:
Hazmat Helpers.
Food for Thought.

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