Thursday evening at Woods Flowers was the first annual Emma's Christmas Party. Emma is a rescue dog from the Temple Animal Shelter who was adopted by Carol Hajda, the owner of Woods Flowers. Mrs. Hajda is also an International Baccalaureate teacher at Travis Science Academy. Her Mustang Team class decided to do their community service project for the Temple Animal Shelter, so during the party for Emma people brought donations for the shelter. Preston Myers, an IB student in Mrs. Hajda's class, was one of the hosts to greet visitors and collect the donations then lead the owners and their pets to Santa for a picture. Preston and the other students on his team will collect donations for the shelter at school until February 28th.
All eighth-grade students complete a community service project as part of the IB program. The students brainstorm to find a need in their community that could also be a global need and then develop their project. IB schools aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.