The eighth graders were asked to examine the essential question, “Is poverty necessary?” The students began by developing their cognitive knowledge of the issues around poverty, its causes, its symptoms and how poverty in our society is being addressed through both the public and private sectors. This in-depth study involved reading several novels offering firsthand accounts of poverty, analyzing a joint Brookings/American Enterprise Institute report, “Opportunity, Responsibility, Security,” researching welfare policies, and eventually creating their own policy memos outlining steps they would take to assist those living in poverty within our society.