By turning doors into whiteboards and desks into work time hideouts, members of Community 3 get creative in making the classroom a comfortable learning space. Yes, you'll find scenes that are typical of middle school classrooms - like Ms. Hardin giving a lesson on decimal subtraction in STEM class, or students working on mapping projects in Ms. Morris's humanities class. But you'll also discover the creative and interesting aspects of project-based learning - like students fusing art and biology in crafty cell projects, tasting the various flavors of dystopian fiction, and (involving a bit more smell) learning anatomy through squid dissection. As students and teachers go about their school day, laughter finds its way in so often - and it's quite contagious.

I'm super grateful to Ms. Hardin, Ms. Morris, and the students of Community 3 for letting me join into their school routines with open arms. It's been such a joy. Seeing friendships flourish and creative, honest learning take place has made me think about the things I value in our education system. Ms. Hardin, Ms. Morris, Mr. Breit, and Ms. Watson, thank you for being great examples of educators who care. And the students of Community 3, thank you for embracing the light-hearted joy of doing school and life with each other.