Kaleb Hammond is a quiet, polite young man who comes alive when he talks about math. “I like numbers,” he admits. Although he says he struggled last year in Calculus, his progress in that class was also his proudest moment at Church Farm School so far. “I was with all seniors, and they seemed to be getting it more easily. I was used to the rigorous workload, but the content was very difficult.” he says. When he brought his grade up from an 84 to a 93, he felt immensely successful.

This year, Kaleb is taking STEM Chair Debbie Witmer’s Statistics class, where the class started the year building their own fantasy football teams based on a variety of statistics. He is also part of Ms. Witmer’s Environment Science and Sustainability class, where he most recently showcased his team’s research into the benefits of using paper straws instead of plastic in the Dining Center. “I really liked that project; we got to use a lot of statistics.” In this case, Kaleb, along with teammates Dylan Jones and Tyler Armstrong, created baseline data on plastic vs. paper straw usage, coupled with a community survey, to determine that a) the community will use the same amount of straws whether they are paper or plastic and b) use of straws stems from a fear of germs and also falls along generational lines with adults less likely to use them. The team hopes to implement their research within the school to eliminate plastic straws, determining the cost is not prohibitive and, through a student interview and the surveys, showing that behavior can be changed to accept paper straws, which only take 2-6 weeks to decompose.

Kaleb is excited about the involvement of students on the school’s Curriculum Committee, and the direction the STEM program is heading. He notes that he recently walked by a whiteboard listing proposed additions and deletions from the curriculum and was thrilled to see the impact of student voice; for example, the proposal of a new Financial Literacy class. “They are listening to what the kids are interested in and what can put them ahead of their peers.”

Kaleb, who came to CFS from the ABC program in Atlanta, hopes to study accounting next year – his top choices are Louisville University, which has co-op programs with the top five accounting firms in the city,  and Davidson, which also has partnerships with accounting firms and is located in Charlotte, one of the top five growing cities in the United States. While he’s looking forward to his next steps, he knows he will miss his “brothers” immensely. “I’ve never had friends like the ones I have here. Everyone is so supportive of each other.”