 Excellence, to me, is a student going above and beyond what they think they can do. I never really knew that that was growing power. I've been past it a couple times. I just thought it was a place where they sell flowers and fruits and stuff. I didn't know they grew all of those types of fish in the aquaponic system. Will said at Growing Power, this is the best group he's ever had come through a tour. And this is the same class that I was given because other teachers couldn't handle. I think where it got around in the school, that about this aquaponics class, like, you know, people didn't really know what it was, and when we explained it to them, they seemed kind of skeptical as to what it was, like they didn't know. An aquaponic system is like a system where it cleans out the fish tank and it fertilizes the plants to help them grow. I gave them projects and they continued to do their projects. They did their own research. They came up with their own questions and answers. Seeing the fish and the vegetables and the compost peeps and the worms and all that, it was great. Keep in mind that when students come to class, they're looking for some action. They're not looking for nouns, they're looking for what can they do. Aquaponic systems, they cost a lot. You'll end up spending like thousands of dollars on a homemade one. I've been doing a basic aquaponic system just out of recycled materials. And we found the five gallon jugs and we cut those open and they kind of tip over so we use aluminum foil rolls and paper towel rolls to hold them in a balance. A major success story for this project is how the teachers began to look at their own learning differently and that has inspired them to teach differently. One out of the days we throw a lot of stuff away like just garbage. It's real cheap to compost, you know, just have a bin and throw all your waste in there that it decompose and it can be soil used to grow your own organic foods. I was really proud that it was a success because at times I would have doubts about it. Who would think a water gallon would hold fish on top of aluminum cans? This project has also been successful because teachers have learned that with larger class sizes, with fewer resources, they need to be much more creative. I brought a couple of people in, showed them the fish that we were growing and they must have thought it was good because a lot of people signed up for the class. My students are excited about science. I never had students come in in between periods to look at their individual product. It just shows what teaching the right thing or having the right plans or teaching it in the right way can do to students that other people say are too tough to teach. This is fun. I did it. Now it's your turn.