Return to Table of Contents / Previous Article / Next Article
Service Learning:
Increasing Youth Involvement
(Sidebar in original publication)
Service learning is applying classroom learning to out-of-classroom activities that meet genuine community needs. Students gain new skills while helping others who need them. They discover that learning doesn’t only happen inside classrooms. They also realize that they are valuable members of society who can make the world a better place. Some activities are based in the communities. They include programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Camp Fire Boys and Girls. Others are based in the schools and are made part of the regular curriculum. Three of the many exciting activities students have done with service learning in Minnesota are:
- Students at Northeast Middle School in Minneapolis designed and painted an outdoor mural to brighten their school’s courtyard. This is part of a larger project to build a “Gathering Place” for members of the school and community to meet.
- At Northland High School in Remer, students built a playground for their community.
- In Waconia, middle and high school students in a program for students at-risk run a farm where, among other activities, they help young children with disabilities ride the horses as part of We Can Ride, a therapeutic horseback-riding program for people with disabilities.
Interested in seeing service learning at your school? Talk to the teachers, the principal, and the P.T.A. Funding and technical assistance are available. For more information contact the National Youth Leadership Council in St. Paul, Minnesota, 651/631-3672 • http://www.nylc.org.
Adapted with permission from “Fast Work” on the Web site of PACER Center, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota [www.pacer.org].
Return to Table of Contents / Previous Article / Next Article
Resources: Resources and Related ICI Publications
__________
Citation: Shoultz, B., Miller, E.E., & Ness, J. (2001). Impact: Feature Issue on Volunteerism by Persons with Developmental Disabilities, 14(2) [online]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration. Available from http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/142/. __________ Hard copies of Impact are available from the Publications Office of the Institute on Community Integration. The first copy of this issue is free; additional copies are $4 each. You can request copies by phone at 612-624-4512 or E-mail at icipub@umn.edu, or you can fax or mail us an order form. See our listing of other issues of Impact for more information. The print design version (PDF, 448K, 28 pp.) of this issue of Impact is also available for free, complete with the color layout and photographs. This version looks the most like the newsletter as it was printed. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.
