Parth Gupta did the research, presented his plan and put it into action. Parth is a 9-year-old third grader at Cedar Ridge Elementary School, and his project is now a school-wide composting program. "My goal is for all CPS schools to have composting programs" by the time he graduates high school, Parth said, referring to Columbia Public Schools. The reasoning behind his goal? "So we can save more food and help plants grow," he said. The Cedar Ridge student has a start on his goal with the composting project at his school. The project composts food waste from school lunches. Compost is made from decomposing organic materials.