The grade 8 students started the school year with an interesting project! During the first two full days at school, we worked on public service announcements (or PSAs) in groups of two or three. Each group’s video was to be presented at the end of the day on Friday, so you can imagine the rush we were in! On Thursday, each advisory headed to a different place. Some of the places include the Concordia Greenhouse, the NDG Eco-quartier, and the Animal Rescue network. Upon our arrival, we were assigned different tasks. My advisory visited the Concordia Greenhouse, and we did various jobs related to gardening: Harvesting and drying teas, thinning out the carrots, etc. Once we returned to school and ate lunch, we began our projects. Although the project didn’t have to tie in to the place our advisory visited, it would be to our advantage if we did so. We would have known more about the topic and possibly have obtained the necessary photographic material. Using the media we had gained from our trips or through the Internet, we began our hurried attempts to squeeze out the best work we possibly could in the short span of two days. The PSA had to fulfill many requirements, and my group’s goal was to make it as emotional as possible. The most difficult part was that a new concept was introduced to us: Only using the Creative Commons (or similar sites) for media, unless it was produced by us.  We weren’t allowed to just search for any picture; it had to be licensed for re-usage! Thankfully, our group was spared this process since we provided all the media. By mid-morning on Friday, our video was finished. All in all, it was a lot of fun to work on this project that informed everyone on our chosen subject, and it was cool to watch what everyone else had produced!—Holly Faria ’15