Reflections On Nine Years With The NYLC Board

What a joy and rewarding experience it has been for me to be a part of the National Youth Leadership Council. Our country is facing big issues like providing access to economic opportunity and education for all. The challenges can seem insurmountable at times. That’s what makes NYLC and its active engagement and leadership of youth, working to build and create a more just community so important. I recall the Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement that educated ordinary citizens to organize and change their communities. NYLC continues that tradition. I saw it at the summer leadership camps, the annual conferences, and the youth who served on the board. NYLC youth are not waiting to make a difference, they are active right now. Can anyone see NYLC youth and be concerned that there will be an absence of leadership in the future? I can’t.

NYLC is synonymous with service learning---quality service learning. It’s frustrating when one mentions service leaning, and the image people have is of youth cleaning a park. There’s nothing wrong with people cleaning parks, but that’s not service learning. One of the great contributions of NYLC to the service learning field is the standards for service learning that NYLC created and developed. Everyone, especially teachers, must know and practice them. In the future I hope quality service learning becomes embedded in our pedagogy.

One of my biggest concerns, especially being a Twin Citian, is the achievement gap in our education system. A quality education system has many dimensions, and I know service learning is not the only solution, but I believe service learning can be a part of the solution. Service learning is a great equalizer and can be a catalyst to igniting the student’s interest in learning.

NYLC gave me the opportunity to work with a great group of board members and staff. I recall the words of St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good”

It was a special honor to serve as board chair with two amazing visionary and gifted leaders---Jim Kielsmeier and Kelita Bak. Where would the service learning movement be without Jim’s passion, thoughtfulness and creativity? We all know the answer. And no organization can stand still. Kelita, acknowledging and building on the foundation of NYLC, is building an organization for today and the future. Both of them faced challenging times, but with their hearts and minds dedicated to the mission, NYLC moved and moves forward.

Based in the middle of the Heartland, NYLC is making a difference in Minnesota, Washington D.C. and throughout the country. It was an honor to be a part of the action. De Tocqueville would write today that the state of democracy in America is in good hands.

Jim Scheibel is a teacher at Hamline University and former mayor of St. Paul, MN, he recently completed his term serving on NYLC's board, with nearly 8 years as board chair.