Summer Info Session with Jake Franklin
June 01, 2022
It only takes a minute to glimpse what's so special about the way Jake Franklin teaches!
For our Summer Info Sessions, we invited Jake Franklin to talk about his experience with teaching philanthropy through Project Heart.
Jake Franklin, the Innovation Teacher at Fulton Academy of Science and Technology in Roswell, GA, used Project Heart to inspire his middle school Innovation classes to give back and meet needs connected to their personal passions. Student Impact Projects ranged from bike repairs and river cleanups to toy drives and gaming tournaments.
Jake was inspired by an ISTE21 session we did with Christian Ludwig from Vista Innovation Design Academy. During his session, he shares the why behind bringing philanthropy into his 7th grade Innovation program as well as his tips for integrating Project Heart first individually and then using a pitch competition to create the project groups.
We love how he took the Project Heart standard middle school curriculum and made it his own. You can discover how he helped his students learn the skills needed to make impact locally and donate over $8,000 to causes they care about, all while practicing those essential skills of communication, collaboration, empathy, critical thinking and more.
In addition to the impactful student stories he shares, we especially appreciate a theme that kept coming up, "Good leaders get it done no matter what. Great leaders get the most out of everyone." He goes on to say that our young people are presented with so many big problems, especially with their exposure to social media. Although they won't solve those big problems in one semester, the empowerment they feel by making a difference and impacting the needs they see around them sticks with them for life.