Youth Engaged in Service
Community Service Learning Program

Definition of Service Learning: Service Learning is a form of experiential learning that enhances traditional modes of learning. Teachers use service-learning to actively engage students in their own educations through experiential learning in course-related contexts, and foster lifelong connections between students, their communities, and the world outside the classroom. For many community organizations, students augment service delivery, meet crucial human needs, and provide a basis for future citizen support. For students, community service is an opportunity to enrich and apply classroom knowledge; explore careers or majors; develop civic and cultural literacy; improve citizenship; develop occupational skills; enhance personal growth and self-image; establish job links; and foster a commitment to public/human service.

Program Objectives:

• To provide an opportunity for the student to identify, develop and share their gifts and talents by providing service to others and meeting the needs of the community.
• To raise the student's awareness of community issues and to help them identify possible solutions while taking action to correct the problems.
• To impress on the student the interconnectedness we experience as members of a community and the responsibilities we have in our families, neighborhoods, churches, schools, cities, and nation.
• To challenge the student to see the connection between what they are learning in the classroom setting and how that information and experience has value in the way we live our everyday lives.

Three Categories of Service

1. Direct Service When students' service activities bring them into direct contact with others, they are providing direct service. These projects can encourage students to develop responsibility for their own actions, be dependable, make a difference in another person's life, focus on the needs of others and learn to get along with people who are different. When students engage in direct service they are directly meeting a need in the community.
2. Indirect Service When students' service activities do not bring them into direct contact with other people, they are providing indirect service. These projects provide some insight into problems that exist in society and how individuals can make a difference. Students engaging in indirect service actually support direct service.
3. Advocacy When students' service activities involve them in lobbying, speaking, or performing in public support of specific causes or issues, they are providing advocacy. These types of service encourage students to persevere and become more aware that the system does not change quickly. They enable students to articulate the problem, suggest logical solutions based on careful research, work with adults, persuade people to act in new ways in relation to an issue or cause, understand the duties and privileges of citizenship, and appreciate the complexities of the political or social process and their roles in it. When students advocate for a cause they are seeking to eliminate a community need.

Class Requirements and Audience Served
All students beginning with the Class of 2008 must complete 20 hours of Community Service Learning in order to graduate and complete a reflective essay. A student can complete their hours by serving their family, neighborhood, school, community or in a non-profit agency.

Additional Requirements

• Reflection Assignments
• Attend in-school workshops during freshmen and sophomore year
• Combination of 2 out 3 types of service (direct, indirect, advocacy)
• Students must submit signed community service-learning log sheets after each service opportunity

Examples of Community Service Learning

• Freshmen (Family & Neighborhood)
  • Neighborhood clean-ups
  • Volunteering for Neighborhood Organization (max. 2 miles from home)
  • Car washing (home or neighbor)
  • Child care/child pick-up for younger sibling
  • Spring Cleaning (basement, attics)
  • Grocery Shopping for elderly resident who have mobility problems
  • Outdoor seasonal activities (leaves, snow, weeding for elderly)
• Sophomores (School & Community)
  • Cross-age or peer tutoring
  • Teacher Assistant in the classroom
  • After School Programs (YMCA, etc.)
  • Food and Clothing Drives
  • Environmental Projects
  • Volunteer at local Church, Daycares, Soup Kitchen
  • Volunteer at School Wide functions
  • Volunteer in school department
• Juniors (Non-Profit Agency)
  • Hours may be served in a number of agencies. This is a good opportunity to serve in two or three agencies to explore your options for your senior year service learning experience.
• Seniors (Non-Profit Agency)
  • Hours must be completed with the same agency. The agency must be pre-approved if it is not already listed in the student manual.

Note:
Commmunity service hours performed outside of the program will be credited to the student if it meets the criteria of the service within the program and is approved prior to performing the service.