Leonard Elementary’s fifth-grade students tackled some tough topics at the (International Baccalaureate) Exhibition May 10.

As part of the International Baccalaureate program at Leonard Elementary, fifth-graders are required to participate in Exhibition— a culminating experience and opportunity to exhibit attributes developed during their time in the Primary Years Programme.

According to IB Coordinator Christine Vince, the projects are meant to help prepare students for middle school and beyond.

“It’s all about learning and helping them to care so that when they go to middle school and beyond, they have some tools for success. We could not do this work without the support of our community and the support of our mentors.”

The 48 students covered challenging topics such as body shaming, poaching, climate change, substance abuse, pollution and poverty.

Along with a mentor, students engaged in a collaborative process to identify, investigate and offer solutions to real-life issues or problems, according to Vince. For their projects, students researched online and even interviewed experts within their field of choice.

One group, consisting of Kylan Pociask, Skyler Ellis, Piper McFarlin, and Ben Bruski, presented on the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke.

“After learning all these facts about how smoke affects humans and animals, I know I never want to smoke,” said Ellis.

As part of their project, the group also created a poster to show the contrast between healthy lungs and lungs which have been damaged by cigarette smoke.

Students were given the freedom to choose their project topics based on the topics they were passionate about.

Melia Rayner, Chiara Levy, Layla Johnson, and Laina Rathburg gave a presentation on animal abuse. “I chose animals (for this project) because (they) means a lot to me. I love animals. Animals are something I want to be working with when I grow up,” Rathburg said.

Students had to go one step further with their projects by creating an action plan to help combat the issues.

“Our action was making boxes and posters for donations, sending emails to parents and spreading awareness,” Johnson said.