The IB Middle Years Programme is an educational programme that all North Atlanta students are a part of. It starts in 6th grade and continues through 10th grade where the programme is concluded with a year-long personal project. Every year, North Atlanta sophomores take on this project, and this year, despite the difficulties of the pandemic, students are still producing innovative projects that are personal to them.

To complete this project, students choose a topic or issue that they want to work with and set a goal that applies to said topic or issue that they spend the year working towards. However, what’s really incredible about this project is that students can choose pretty much anything they want to do their project on, which allows for students to create a final product that they are truly passionate about. The project consists of three main parts; a process journal, a product, and a written report.

Students complete this project under the guidance of an assigned advisory teacher, who they meet with weekly to walk through the different steps of the project. In past years this advisement period has been worked into the school day, but this year a 45-minute advisement period has been tacked onto the end of the virtual school day. While many students complain that the added time to the school day is annoying, it can’t be denied that the project would be astronomically harder to complete without the help of advisory teachers. “Even though having extra time at the end of the day is annoying, I would definitely be struggling to stay on track and do everything correctly if I didn’t have an advisory teacher to consult with,” said sophomore Riley Martin. 

COVID restrictions have impacted the MYP project in many ways. For example, students have to take into account whether or not they can complete their project while following COVID safety guidelines. Virtual MYP instruction is another factor that has made an impact on the project. A number of students don’t show up to the Zoom calls, causing them to fall behind. Some students feel that it’s harder for them to grasp the instructions and manage the online platforms used to complete the projects, when they are explained over a Zoom call. “It’s hard because when kids get confused with how to use the online platforms, they don’t have a teacher right there who can help them.” said sophomore Ella McCabe, “It’s definitely harder for the teachers and students to communicate with each other.” 

With all of the madness 2020 has brought us, it has been necessary to adapt to our situations to make it work. However, the Warriors never fail to prevail and make good out of an unfavorable situation.