“Just say no to GMOs!”

hey, there — whatcha eating? Chips? Did you know that over 90% of all corn grown in the USA is genetically modified?

The 1st quarter CAP class’s Action Project, GMOs, taught them this, and many other startling facts about the nation’s Genetically Engineered food. It also taught them to be pay attention to the food they choose to eat. For their action project week students:

• Evaluated the contents of the vending machine.
• Had a GMO free bake sale.
• Did an awareness raising power point presentation for the school.
• And Hosted a GMO-free lunch for the school to raise awareness.

Students were inspired to pick GMO’s as their topic when they learned that Boulder County Commissioners are trying to decide whether to allow genetically modified sugar beets to grow on Open Space Land. The commissioners will make a decision soon and hope also to create an overarching policy for GMOs in Boulder County.

Other awesome highlights from the week: during their vending machine audit, students found that many items being sold probably contained genetically modified ingredients, it’s impossible to say for sure because in the United States companies are not required to label products which contain GMOs, unlike Europe, on Wednesday. students dressed up as creatures negatively affected by GMOs and presented to the school about what they had learned during Community Gathering; Thursday’s GMO free lunch was a hit!

There were some challenges however. “It’s a really complex issue,” said one student. “It was hard to make it [Action Project Week] fun for people and educational.”

Students say, it was also a struggle get started and definitively plan out all the details to  make a good Action Project. However, students said, “this class worked really well together,” and over the space of 9 weeks all made some solid friendships and learned a great deal about a pressing local environmental issue.

Great work, CAP class!