Eighth-grade student (above) Katelyn Chan’s IB service project created an online registration process for blood donations. In her research, Chan discovered that ‘every two seconds, real patients need life-saving blood as part of their medical care. You can save up to three lives with a single donation.’ CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Working with six PBMS art classes, eighth-grade students (left to right) Luna McComb, Gemma Lee, and Danielle La Rue created a beautiful mural from more than 200 6-inch by 6-inch wooden squares. These young artists believe, ‘We may just be middle school students now, but we are the future of our community, we can and we will make the biggest difference.’ CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Amari Secka’s eighth-grade IB service project focused on establishing small community libraries. Creating, building, and hosting small community libraries encourages the love of reading and can break a family’s cycle of poor reading skills. ‘Amari’s project was one of 140 incredible service projects this year. Whether working as an individual or in groups of two or three, all of our eighth-grade students were represented at our IB Showcase,’ said Ashley Hensen, PBMS’ IB program coordinator. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Feel the Beat….Fund The Dream is the title of these two young musicians’ eighth-grade IB service project, raising money for the PBMS Music Program. The school has long had a high-quality choral and instrumental music program feeding into the music program at MBHS. Tommy Ratzin (left) and Diego de la Cruz raised over $300 for their music program. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Eighth-grade student Micah Ortiz’s IB service project was to monitor the speed of vehicles on the residential streets near his Pacific Beach home. Ortiz discovered, after three five-hour periods of observation, that driving above the posted speed limit on neighborhood streets was common. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO