SPARKS – A fusion of curricula took place in the cafeteria of Mendive Middle School on Friday as seventh-grade students displayed their “On Vacation with Team Legacy” presentations as part of a final class project.

Student teams were selected in groups of four and assigned a country about which they would learn as much as they could. Their assignments included a travel journal for language arts, in which they were tasked with describing the famous cities and notable attractions in the country; making a food web for animal life; investigating biomes of the country; and constructing an ethnic chart for social studies analyzing the region’s inhabitants.

“The kids worked together for about three weeks and we invite the parents to come and vote on which country they would like to vacation in,” science teacher Cathy Semenko said. “I think 50 to 60 parents showed up so it has been a great turnout and it’s just a fun way to end the year.”

With the given tri-fold display board from their teachers, they were also required to display a flag and come up with a recipe of at least one famous food from their region — with most students choosing a dessert. Students then marketed their country through persuasion and treats.

The project was set up and delivered as part of the seventh-grade enrichment class, which is designed to teach students life skills through practice of creative thinking and activities.

Students who collaborated on the Germany display were passing out miniature flags attached to small sticks to passersby in hopes of receiving their votes. Jackie Martinez, 12, said they worked for about two weeks on their project and cited the science portion as the most difficult.

“We had to make a list of biomes and an animal food chain,” she said. “That was probably the hardest and took the longest.” The Germany team collectively agreed that there were many nice exhibits but they may be able to steal a vote with their chocolate mousse dessert.

Another notable display was about France, created by students who neatly organized their board and baked crepes for those visited their booth. Competing alongside them was Italy, whose students offered biscotti to viewers.