By: Ruhi Khanna and Arshia Rampuria…

The AP Seminar class at IA has expanded its wings and is engaging their students in several different ways. We see this engagement currently through their PT1 project, a major group assignment where students come up with a research question. The research question is overall semester themed. With this question, students research and analyze it through different lenses with the aim of coming up with an effective solution. 

This year, our semester-based theme revolves around the extensive issue of food scarcity. Food scarcity is known as a complex and interconnected issue which denies the sureness of a person’s next meal. We have seen it come from various causes: war, the pandemic, drought, poverty, the economy, access, etc. As a lot of these causes are extensive themselves, they are often interlinked to each other, creating the complexity that drives AP Seminar students to think critically and originally for their solutions. 

One of the most compelling things about this topic, according to Arshia Rampuria, is its ability to draw from multiple perspectives. “We’re not just talking about people on the other side of the globe, we’re talking about the people in our communities—our neighbors, family, and friends.” Researching this problem, she states, brings a whole new level of locality, and in turn, connection to the issue. 

To create valuable research and analyzation based on this theme, students must split their research into specific baskets, ordained to different sectors of the food scarcity issue. For this unit, the baskets center around five different fields: Agriculture (the Farmer’s market), Hygiene and Student poverty (KSU cares), Food Banks (ACFB), Education (Cogburn Elementary), and the Fulton County Schools community. These baskets require students to attend field trips/volunteering, which in turn, gives students a concrete overview of the attempts, successes, and failures that come with food insecurity. 

Throughout understanding the mission of AP Seminar, we can see how it aligns to the Pheonix Project happening the week of November 18^th. These field trips, as stated in teams, are connected to the Pheonix Project about Food Scarcity, which connects to AP Seminar as well as being open to others in the school. As a chance for volunteering and an opportunity to foster greater understanding in the realms of food scarcity, they are a great opportunity to check out and sign up for. 

Stay tuned for AP Seminar’s progress through their PT1 project! Thanks for reading!