At a middle school in Arizona's Alhambra School District, Janet leads an interdisciplinary sustainability program that empowers middle school students to address real-world issues through agrovolatics, urban gardening, and renewable energy projects. This work, active since 2021, is deeply rooted in community engagement and partnerships with Arizona State University, local farms, as well as families. 

One afternoon, a group of students focused on a solar-powered irrigation system they had designed themselves. After weeks of research, sketching, and testing, they were now troubleshooting why water flow had slowed. Rather than waiting for instructions, they grabbed multimeters and soil probes, compared their data logs, and debated possible system faults. 

Meanwhile, another group inside the classroom prepared a recipe card exchange, matching harvested cilantro, mint, basil, and dill to traditional dishes shared by their families. 

These moments illustrate what it means to take agentive action, where in Janet’s classroom, students are not passive recipients of information but rather take on roles as designers, analysts, advocates, and stewards. 

From designing and maintaining irrigation systems in their school garden to proposing school-wide energy-saving strategies, students identify problems, make decisions, and build solutions. They don’t just learn about sustainability, but they enact it through influencing their families’ behavior at home by suggesting energy budgeting or water-saving practices. Their projects connect technical learning with cultural knowledge, showing how sustainable futures are personal, collective, and achievable.