Five students at Hayes are taking on a wide range of topics for their third-year Global Scholars projects.
Global Scholars is a three-year program provided by the Columbus Council on World Affairs and has three main themes: global careers, cultures and issues.
Students in their first year increase awareness on cultures and global issues. Second year students build skills, while third year students will take action, which is what five juniors at Hayes are doing.
Kayla Coleman is labeling storm drains and picking up trash around the community. “I am helping with pollution,” she said.
Coleman said she wants students to get involved by picking up their trash and watching where they are dumping liquids so it does not pollute the storm drains.
“It is around the Hayes neighborhood, where I labeled the storm drains,” Coleman said.
Emma Seiler is collecting books that range from young children’s books to adult books.
“The books that I do collect are going to a local organization called CRIS (Community Refugee and Immigration Services), these books will then be passed out to the different members in the group,” Seiler said in an email interview.
Books can help with students’ ability to learn and grow in knowledge.
“I chose my project because education is something very important to me personally,” Seiler said. “When I was younger, I struggled to read like the other kids in my class, so I am hoping that with this project I can give others an opportunity to learn.”
There are also ways for students at Hayes to get involved with the CRIS organization by volunteering and learning about the organization as a whole.
“So far I have been able to collect around 715 books to give to CRIS,” Seiler said.
Kasey Wells is creating a video to bring awareness to protecting the environment.
“I think that a lot of people kind of overlook helping the environment,” Kasey Wells said. “They think it is not as big of a deal as it is and do not know how they can help.”
She hopes that her video will show others around Hayes and the community how to help protect the environment.
“Protecting our environment will help everybody and I think it is a good way of getting people out there and be a part of their community,” Kasey Wells said.
Molly Wells is holding a dental drive at Hayes through the month of February.
“My project is a dental drive where I’m collecting toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash and dental floss, to donate to local organizations, such as the free store, PIN (People in Need) and the Pacer Pantry,” Molly Wells said.
Molly Wells chose her project due to the fact that 3.5 billion people in the world are affected by dental disease. She also pointed out the fact that dental health is the most common unmet healthcare need in Ohio.
“The drive is going on through February and donation boxes are in the front office,” Molly Wells said. “I appreciate any donations.”
Meg Wolf is creating rain barrels that will be in both of the courtyards at Hayes.
“I chose it because…it affects students in little ways everyday, but ways that really matter,” Wolf said.
The rain barrels will help the school with water costs and it will be a more sustainable way for students to use water.
“If more students use it, it will increase the likelihood of us being able to expand it to maybe putting in a garden for food and nutrition classes to grow produce or utilize it in other ways,” Wolf said.
Wolf said she wants to expand this project past Hayes and to other schools around the district.
“It was definitely a lot of fun to do and Global Scholars, as a whole in high school, [it] was definitely worth it…if anyone would be interested in it, I think they should do it,” Wolf said.