November 2025

It’s less than a half-hour before the Friday afternoon dismissal bell rings at Sunnyside Elementary, and while teachers shuffle around their classrooms organizing end-of-week routines and students busily put the final touches on late afternoon assignments, one group of volunteer fifth graders is doing some weekly weightlifting up and down the hallways.

But these tireless 10- and 11-year-olds aren’t lifting dumbbells.  Instead, they’re flexing their muscles to make recycling a top priority at their school.

When middle schoolers accidentally do something embarrassing, the last thing they want to be is caught on camera.  Unless you’re one of 58 eighth graders enrolled in Rowe Middle School’s “Shamrock News” class, where students spend nearly every minute of class time with video cameras in hand reporting school news and laughing over bloopers as they skillfully produce Rowe’s weekly news program.

“It’s really fun shooting and editing the different segments,” says eighth grader Seren Dreves.  “Plus you can always go back and find them on the internet.  Someday I’m going to watch and think, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s what I was like in eighth grade!’”

Heading into her junior year at Milwaukie Academy of the Arts, Ella Genzer knew she’d have a long list of important responsibilities—keeping up her grades in advanced-placement classes, helping take care of her younger sister at home, and even taking time to start thinking about college and career options post high school.  But her favorite responsibilities so far this year?