In order to focus on world cultures under the direction of Dan Cosgrove and Jennifer Sang, students were challenged with adopting a culture and conveying to the elementary school students details about that culture as well as an exploration of the way they sweeten their food. Students were given samples of foods from around the world to sample and were engaged in various hands-on activities such as Italian dancing and Japanese writing. 
Brandy Sampson’s team took on the role of playwriting, set building, and direction of a short play that told the story of local Calhoun man who was visited by a ghost while traveling on his wagon. At the festival, this group repeated this play throughout the day for small groups of elementary school students, then they invited students to meet the cast and explore their constructed wagon. While working to construct this wagon, one student got so excited that he needed to use πr² to solve the problem that he told Josh Johnson, “I wish we could learn math this way all the time!!” 
Josh Johnson and Sally Stewart’s groups studied research methods and the design process along with simulated workplace hiring and group tactics to propose, choose as a group, design, and create games to be played at the festival. At the festival, students ran the games for groups of elementary school students, encouraging them to carefully aim on their real life angry birds game, eliminate the aliens in an Area 51-themed game or to hit the cup in a game shaped like a clown’s face with “teeth” they had to knock out. In order to study statistical principles, math students took a two-pronged approach. In speaking with the planners of the festival, Cathy Craddock learned that the festival does not have any data about attendance. As a group, they decided that the 6th grade students would collect data prior to the festival about what would draw people to the festival or what attractions people would like to see at the festival. Students were expected to survey specific age ranges. One takeaway I noticed from the students’ presentations was that people would like to see rides at their festival.
Mr. Davis’s 7th and 8th grade students were using the time at the festival to collect data on attendance while the 6th grade students presented displays of the information they collected. These groups intended to continue to collate this data into a formal presentation that they will deliver to the Molasses Festival Board to inform their planning of next year’s festival.
This project was a huge, school-wide undertaking that Calhoun Middle School embraced as their first project. I arrived at the festival late in their day, it was unseasonably hot, and the students were tired. Yet both the middle school presenters and the elementary school students were engaged and interested in the experiences they had put together, even late into the day. Teachers and students should be proud of the work they did and will continue to do to bring value to the heritage of their county.