Project Ignition Story of the Week: Students in Ohio Change School Culture

Apply now for funding to support student-led teen driver safety promotion projects through Project Ignition. Applications are due Nov. 15, 2010. Visit www.sfprojectignition.com for more information.

Students are not only improving teen driver safety, but are also “positively changing the culture of the school so that it is unrecognizable” in rural Ridgeway, Ohio, says teacher Stephanie Jolliff.
An initial grant of $2,000 from NYLC and State Farm® to promote safe driving habits also cultivated a group of young people who “really can change the world," says Jolliff. The grant program, Project Ignition, involves public high school students, their teachers, and community partners in addressing this need that is common to rural, suburban, and urban areas.

Students were the driving force behind Ridgemont High School’s initial application in 2007. According to Jolliff, "We teachers were hesitating because grants can be so strict and structured. But this program is different. It is focused on the students and it can start really simply."

Ridgemont High School students began by promoting safe driving during lunchtime. From those activities a multi-disciplinary service-learning program has grown.

Now, the agriculture and Future Farmers of America Organization students Jolliff teaches coordinate the project, which also has curricular connections to math and science. Working with the State Highway Patrol, pre-algebra math students are extrapolating data regarding teen driving behaviors over the past five years. They will graph the data to measure the impact of their program and identify additional needs. In physical science, students worked with a crash scene investigator to study the concepts of friction, speed, acceleration and momentum, and how they relate to safe driving.

Rural road safety is an issue in this part of central Ohio. Visitors to this area share the highways with traditional Amish, who often ride in unmarked buggies. Student Malana Ledley described how Project Ignition students worked with the Amish community and the State Highway Patrol to negotiate the limited marking of 50 buggies, aiding in their visibility. Teachers made curricular connections throughout the process of identifying local needs and conflicting points of view; researching the history, politics, and policies related to the need; and determining potential ways to address the need.

Jolliff credits her students' ongoing commitment to attendance at the National Service-Learning Conference. Each year, schools whose Project Ignition campaigns are judged to be among the top 10 in the nation receive an additional $5,000 to help cover expenses to come to the conference. "It is a pivotal experience for us each year,” says Jolliff. “The kids come back and say, 'We can do so much more!' and 'We can do this so much better!' When youth experience empowerment, they feed off each other. They ignite each other's innovations."

According to Jolliff, the public perception of the students has become, "If they can do this much with safe driving, just imagine what else they can do."