Every year, students of social studies teacher Koren Pena’s sociology class take part in the “flour baby” project for a chance to learn firsthand about parenting and family. Say hello to a few of this year’s babies!
Student: Pilar Beecham, junior
Baby’s Name: Lamonte Davis Houston
Favorite Part of the Project: Dressing my baby and getting to show him off to everyone around me; everyone loved my baby.
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Having to carry the baby around and remember it.
Favorite Moment: Taking photos of my baby with everyone—they were very cute.
Student: Amelie Duch, senior
Baby’s Name: Belle
Favorite Part of the Project: Holding and playing with my baby with my friends.
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: How heavy the carriers were. The bags of flour that we used were five pounds and then we all needed a basket to carry the babies in around school, so it ended up being very heavy to carry around all day.
Favorite Moment: Getting some of my teachers to be in the pictures with me and my baby. I needed them for my daily baby post assignments where we showed our teacher one new thing we and our babies did that day. I also loved just seeing how involved my friends and family got with the baby.
Student: Kate Santoli, junior
Baby’s Name: Magnolia
Favorite Part of the Project: Being able to pick out my baby’s name, clothes, and carrier and being able to make posts for all my baby’s firsts.
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Carrying around this five-pound baby all day along with all my other things. It definitely puts into perspective how heavy babies are since I know real babies will be a lot heavier.
Favorite Moment: Going to Target with my friend to pick out clothes for my baby. It was fun to look through all the cute little baby outfits and pick what I wanted my baby to wear.
Student: Katy Gottlieb, junior
Baby’s Name: Charlotte Grace Gottlieb
Favorite Part of the Project: Charlotte getting to meet so many new people including some of my closest friends. I also enjoyed trying new activities with Charlotte and documenting the whole process.
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Lugging around Charlotte. It was definitely tiring carrying Charlotte around from the long day of school to work and all my extracurriculars, but after the first few days, I got used to it!
Favorite Moment: Seeing her play in the snow for the first time as well as her trying new sports in my gym class with the help of my friend Leah. In addition, I loved getting to see Charlotte try new foods and have playdates with her new friends.
Student: Peyton Leighley, junior
Baby’s Name: Brooks
Favorite Part of the Project: Buying everything for my baby
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Carrying the baby around all day and finding a babysitter at certain moments.
Favorite Moment: Seeing all of my friends with their babies and being able to go on playdates.
Student: Vanessa Gonzalo, senior
Baby’s Name: Bryson
Favorite Part of the Project: Taking photos to share on Schoology with the rest of my classmates.
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Carrying him around everywhere.
Favorite Moment: My friends getting to see my baby and hanging out with him.
Student: Paula Rojas-Young, junior
Baby’s Name: Alexander “Metroman” Rojas-Young
Favorite Part of the Project: Crocheting little toys for my baby boy
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Carrying the baby as I was walking home and getting the strangest looks.
Favorite Moment: I loved how eager all my friends were to take care of my kid. They were practically pushing me out of the way for the chance to carry and babysit him!
Student: Hiba Nadeem, senior
Baby’s Name: Aria
Favorite Part of the Project: The whole project on its own. There was a lot I was able to learn and experience.
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Sharing my undivided attention at each and every moment.
Favorite Moment: Watching how my family and friends actively contributed and lent a hand by babysitting.
Student: Dylan Hincken-Kossow, Junior
Baby’s Name: Beau Elliot
Favorite Part of the Project: My friends’ and family’s reaction to the baby
The Most Challenging Part of the Project: Having to carry the baby around school because it was so heavy.
Favorite Moment: When we first made the baby and got to see it for the first time.
