Blog Archives: October 2012
Selecting Quality Workshops for Without Limits
Each year, a diverse group of service-learning professionals converge at the NYLC offices to participate in the on-site workshop proposal review to select workshops for the National Service-Learning Conference. Sorting through quality workshop proposals is no easy task, but is something that our group of 14 reviewers took very seriously to help ensure that the 24th Annual National Service-Learning Conference, Without Limits, has quality programming scheduled.
Reviewers included NYLC staff, teachers, partners, and youth. The two-day process was co-facilitated by Joan Lennon Liptrot, Executive Director of the Institute for Global Education and Service-Learning, and myself, and involved reviewing 120 proposals to select the best ones for the available workshop slots.
Like I said before, this was no easy task.
But the reviewers involved thought critically about the workshop topics, target audiences, national representation, and the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice. The group also worked to identify strong Service-Learning Showcase candidates as well as potential exhibitors. At the conclusion of the event, reviewers thought critically about how to improve the Call for Proposals process next year for the 2014 National Service-Learning Conference, which will take place in Washington, D.C.
On behalf of NYLC, I want to thank you to all of our workshop reviewers! I hope to see you all at the 24th Annual National Service-Learning Conference from March 13-15 in Denver!
Connect Before the National Service-Learning Conference in the GSN
Without Limits, the 24th Annual National Service-Learning Conference® will take place March 13-15, 2013 in Denver, Colo. The conference offers students and adults the opportunity to network, attend professional development sessions, become inspired, and learn from leaders in the field. This year’s theme, Without Limits, represents the limitless potential of all young people and the adults who support them to solve real-world problems. From addressing global waste and raising awareness on water pollution, to offering solutions to the achievement gap, to advocating for laws to improve teen driver safety — youth make change happen. And today’s young people are more informed, more connected, and better positioned than before to tackle the toughest challenges of today.
We are excited to hear from these amazing young people and to learn from them as well as the adults who support them. With the Generator School Network, NYLC’s free online community for educators and youth involved in service-learning, you don’t have to wait until March to start sharing with other attendees. Join the GSN and get connected today.
GSN members can share and learn with other conference attendees and stay connected after the conference is over. You can watch videos and look at pictures from past conferences, participate in lively discussions, and share information about your service-learning projects and resources. You can also start your own discussion groups within the GSN or connect with other members or groups, like Service-Learning Young Professionals.
Check out this video about the GSN and then log on to gsn.nylc.org to join.
Already a GSN member? Join the 2013 National Service-Learning Conference discussion group and add to the conversation.
This spring, nearly 2,000 students and educators will gather in Denver to explore how youth — along with educators, policy makers, and community leaders — can make real-world change. We can’t wait to see you in Denver and until then, we look forward to connecting with you in the GSN!
Service-Learning is Key Component in Student Engagement
Every day we are inundated with images of what is wrong with our nation’s schools. Box office movies accentuate disengaged students and inattentive teachers, nightly news stories feature violence in our schools, and newspapers showcase article after article about failing schools all around us. The fact is our school system needs help. There are 76 million youth under the age of 18 in America and 1.2 million of those in high school will drop out this year. There are numerous reasons that students leave school but one of the largest is engagement. Students don’t feel welcome, they don’t connect with the teachers, or they don’t feel like they belong. Students who are engaged are far less likely to drop out than those who aren’t.
There isn’t one silver bullet to education reform, but at the National Youth Leadership Council we know something that is working. On September 13, 2012, The National Youth Leadership Council hosted a public briefing to discuss how the Guilford County school district in Greensboro, North Carolina achieved high levels of academic success by implementing a character development and service-learning initiative that engages the students themselves in their own education.
Service-learning can ignite the passion that teachers have for teaching and the wonder and creativity in youth. This approach to teaching and learning engages the community as the classroom and exposes students to new fields and professions. The Department of Education has made civic learning and engagement a priority because they know that innovative approaches like service-learning have the power to lower the dropout rate.
At the National Youth Leadership Council we know that a high-quality service-learning opportunity not only engages students, but positions them as leaders in their own education. That is why we are working with members of Congress and national partners to look for opportunities to include service-learning in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind). We want to make it easier for schools and teachers to utilize service-learning as a strategy and by ensuring it is part of the reauthorization, schools can have the resources they need to replicate the successes we are seeing in Guilford County. In the words of Superintendent Maurice, “Mo” Green, “We cannot lose focus on we are developing children, developing young adults, and so the policies need to be sure that they allow for educators to do what they do best, be great educators.”
Service-learning isn’t the sole solution that will magically fix failing schools, but it is a proven strategy, that when combined with district-wide investment, supportive teachers and community members, and youth leadership, is making an important difference in schools around the world.
To learn more about the successes in Guilford County watch the abridged Hill Briefing video on YouTube or visit nylc.org/programs/public-policy-and-advocacy.
NYLC to Participate in Give to the Max Day on Nov. 15!
This year, NYLC will join thousands of other nonprofit organizations based in Minnesota in an exciting event on November 15 called Give to the Max Day. This one-day event supports local nonprofits through an online giving website called GiveMN. Give to the Max Day is a day for anyone who supports nonprofits and schools to come together and raise as much money as possible in 24 hours — starting at midnight on November 15, 2012 through midnight on November 16, 2012.
GiveMN is an online giving platform with a plethora of new and exciting tools for nonprofits to build awareness and raise much-needed funds simultaneously. According to Razoo, the parent website that hosts GiveMN, more than $100 million has been raised for nonprofit organizations that fundraise through its online interface.
Why would a national nonprofit participate in a giving event happening only in Minnesota?
NYLC has been located in Saint Paul since it was founded nearly 30 years ago and remains committed to working with partners from across the state and the nation to pilot new programs in schools and districts. GiveMN is a chance for us to raise funds and awareness for the programs and services we offer like our National Youth Leadership Training — a week of adventure, self-discovery, cultural exchange, leadership building, and service offered to teams of high school students with an adult mentor. Support for these programs is essential, and GiveMN is a great opportunity for us to ensure that we can continue to provide this life-changing experience to participants.
Those who donate to NYLC on Give to the Max Day have many other incentives to contribute that day, including:
- Prestige! GiveMN will award $12,500 to the nonprofit (hopefully us!) with the largest Give to the Max Day donations.
- Golden Tickets! Anyone who donates that day will be randomly selected each hour to have $1,000 added to their donations. At the end of the 24-hour event, one donor will receive a super-sized Golden Ticket, adding $10,000 to their donation!
- Energy! During last year's Give to the Max Day, $13.4 million was raised to benefit nonprofit organizations. Social Media will be buzzing all day with Facebook, Twitter, and a live internet broadcast from the Mall of America – you can be part of something huge!
Mark your calendars for November 15! Stay tuned for upcoming announcements about the NYLC Give to the Max Day campaign and how you can rally your troops to contribute to our goal. Sign up for our e-newsletter, The Leader, follow us on Twitter (@nylcorg), or Like us on Facebook, and remember the words of Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Bringing A Youth Perspective to Capitol Hill
I never imagined that I would be invited to a Capitol Hill Briefing as a junior in high school and then to be there as a panelist, presenting and answering questions about the success of service-learning in Guilford County Schools was an experience that I will never forget. When we arrived in Washington, D.C. we went directly to the Senate offices to speak with Senator Kay Hagan from North Carolina, and it was a delight to meet with her. We shared candid dialogue with her about some of the many service-learning projects in Guilford County. She was very pleased with the work we are doing in our school system and was looking forward to the variety of projects we have working on this coming year.
When I walked through the Capitol doors, doors that many famous politicians had walked through years before, it made me think how fortunate I was to be able to represent Guilford County Schools. The opportunity to tell students, parents, educators, business leaders, and congressional representatives about how service-learning has made an impact on me, my peers, my school, and community was inspiring and just plain awesome!
One special service-learning project that Weaver Academy, a performing and visual arts high school, does annually is our Very Special Arts Festival where we bring the performing and visual arts to Gateway Education Center, a school for the mentally and physically disabled. This project involves our entire school and we make it an interactive experience for the students at Gateway. It’s a service-learning project that we look forward to each year, where we prepare different activities to perform with the students and upon our return to Weaver we reflect and think of new and even better ideas for the next year.
The briefing was a huge success and I know the attendees walked away with a better sense of what service-learning is all about and how to implement it in their schools and communities. I know Guilford County Schools will continue to strive to make service-learning an important part of a student’s educational experience, which benefits not only the student but the entire community!
Read more the Capitol Hill Briefing news story or watch the video.
