Building More Than Benches: How 8th Graders Transformed Their School with Project Heart

Overview

Severance Middle School grew from 300 to nearly 800 students in 11 years. Chuck Luce – 15 years in the classroom, earlier career at Home Depot – believed students learn best when they build things and engage with the real world. Project Heart gave its 8th graders a framework for looking at their own school, identifying real needs, and addressing them. Every other Thursday became Project Heart day. Students looked forward to it.

How the Curriculum Was Used

Chuck adapted Project Heart lessons into visual slideshows and tied the curriculum directly to Colorado’s civic standards and SEL benchmarks, giving him a solid footing with administrators and making the program a natural fit alongside required content. Students first explored their own relationship to philanthropy (many had never participated in any philanthropic activity), then turned outward to identify unmet needs in their rapidly growing school.

What Students Built

One group cleared a scrubby area near the school entrance and used an Illumination Fund grant to build outdoor benches. Students who had barely spoken all year worked side by side – Chuck noted it was bittersweet to hear kids asking each other’s names for the first time. Another group wanted a gaga ball pit, discovered pre-made ones cost $1,200, found DIY instructions online, reworked their budget, and built it themselves. The principal even used the Pythagorean theorem to confirm the octagonal structure would fit the space.

Why It Matters

The real win wasn’t the benches or the pit. It was watching students from different social circles find common ground, and seeing kids experience the full arc of real problem-solving: plan, hit a wall, adapt, follow through. That’s civic education you can’t get from a textbook.