For their space exploration project, Search for ET, 8th grade science students looked for life beyond Earth. They researched locations in the solar system and—based on their knowledge of living organisms—chose the one they thought was most likely to harbor life. From there, they worked in groups to design missions to space to search for life at their chosen location and built prototypes of the craft or rover they would send on the mission. The project culminated with students pitching their ideas to members of the BVR community. Students had to try and persuade these space-mission investors that their planet or moon of choice was the most likely to have life on it—and, as a result, should be the one to receive funding.

A total of 42 students participated in the annual Middle School Social Justice Retreat—a day-long series of workshops and activities in relation to this year's theme, "Using Creativity & Design to Inspire Social Change." Students engaged in conversations about identity and privilege; immigration and art; and how to use their spheres of influence and skillsets to support and build awareness around cause they're passionate about. Students then applied what they learned from the morning workshops to create physical representations of various social justice topics in the afternoon "Make For Change" workshops. Click here to read all the workshop descriptions and keep an eye on the Beaver blog for a student recap.