Why I Do Service-Learning

By: Robyn Stegman, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

“30 years ago, I never expected to like being called a blogger.”
- Nick Holton

The Guest Blogging program has been one of my favorite parts of my service here as the Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA. I get to invite people to blog for us who have never blogged before. I get to share ideas and opinions from people all over the world of service-learning. Over the next few months we have blogs lined up from all over the United States. Blogs from youth innovators, involved parents, service-learning professionals, and leaders in the service field, not to mention blogs from the awesome service-learning practitioners we have right here in the state of Michigan.

I’m always looking for first time bloggers. We want you to share your stories, so I am pleased to announce that we will be starting a new blog series:

Why I Do Service-Learning asks Michigan service-learning practitioners to tell their stories and dreams from the field. Over the next months we’ll share inspirational stories from across the state that provides an answer to the question: why engage in service-learning? To kick off this series I decided to share my own story of why I do service-learning.

Empowering Change: Why I Do Service-Learning.

When I was in the third grade my teacher asked us all to imagine that we were in medieval times. Each student received a piece of paper that told us what our role was to be. I was to be a serf and I quickly learned this was not a good thing. While the King and Queen got to snack on cupcakes, the serfs were given saltine crackers. While the lords and ladies could color with the brightest and most beautiful markers we were given yellow and brown crayons. We were told that in medieval times things were not fair, and on that my teacher and I agreed. So what does a third grader do in the face of medieval oppression? Strike.

That’s right. I got all of my fellow serfs together and we took construction paper and our yellow and brown crayons and made signs. We marched around the room through the sections of the classroom reserved for the upper crust, through our own imagined serf village, refusing to do our work until equality was restored. In the third grade I learned how to successfully lead a revolution.

Children are full with the energy and spirit that can change the world and they shouldn’t have to wait until they are 20 to do something about it. That day in the third grade I knew I wanted to change the world, even if it was an imaginary one. Imagine what my peers and I could have done in a service-learning classroom. What impact might we have had on the real world?

When I do site visits with Learn and Serve – Michigan grantees I see the same fire that ignited my third grade classroom. I see students, who by the fifth grade, have changed more lives then they can count. I meet middle school students who can speak more eloquently about homelessness then most adults. I meet kids who already, at the age of 10 or 17, have come up with a plan that will revolutionize the world, and it is because of their teachers and their classes.

Years later my third grade teacher still tells that story of the classroom strike. She once told me “That day I didn’t teach you, you taught me.” Now it is my turn to learn from students. Last month I was talking to fifth graders at the Detroit Service-Learning Academy about creating a community garden with them next year. One student raised his hand and asked, “Will we use organic seeds?” The truth was I hadn’t even thought about that. The students then engaged in a conversation about healthy recipes and ways they could use organically grown vegetables to make juice to replace the overly sugared juice beverages most kids drink. They were already making plans to change their community and we hadn’t even started the garden yet.

When I have a bad day at my service site, I think of those students and other students I have had the pleasure to meet. I think of their stories and accomplishments. Learn and Serve – Michigan students have contributed millions of hours of service to communities all over the state. They are transforming their community, becoming change makers, and leaders that are transforming the world today. That’s why I do service-learning: because kids are powerful forces for change and service-learning unleashes their potential.

Tell your story! Let us know why you do service-learning at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/whyidosl.

Collaboration – Here’s How!

By: Matt Reaume, Michigan Community Service Commission Cross-Stream AmeriCorps*VISTA & Robyn Stegman, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

Have you ever had trouble coordinating academic service-learning projects for your students? The task is no small endeavor. Imagine your relief if you were given access to an organization or a group of individuals who had experience implementing similar service projects in your area.

Think about what could come from having the ability to utilize an already established network of volunteers. How much easier would it be to get an event off the ground if key community partnerships were already forged; if funding could be diversified; if resources, best practices, energy, and idealism were in no short supply? What if?

On the surface, the sample scenario described above may sound like a pipe dream. But on the contrary, this depiction illustrates the potential that exists for Learn and Serve -Michigan grantees to collaborate with other local national service programs like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps in our state.

What is AmeriCorps?
AmeriCorps is a national service program that strengthens communities by involving people in service to meet local challenges. Through AmeriCorps, individuals can serve with community and faith-based organization, higher education institutions, and public agencies in many ways. If you are interested in seeing firsthand the type of projects that AmeriCorps members are completing in Michigan, look no further than your local community, as this week marks the Fourth Annual AmeriCorps Week!

AmeriCorps Week is an opportunity for AmeriCorps members, alums, grantees, program partners, and friends to celebrate the service and powerful impact that AmeriCorps has had on local communities. AmeriCorps Week events are taking place all throughout Michigan between May 8 and 15. What better way to explore the potential for collaboration than by participating? For a list of current AmeriCorps Week projects taking place, be sure the visit the Michigan Community Service Commission website at www.michigan.gov/mcsc.

What is Senior Corps?
Senior Corps is a network of programs that tap the experience, skills, and talents of older citizens to meet community challenges through Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, and RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) programs. More than 11,000 seniors in Michigan contribute their time and talents to one of three Senior Corps programs. More than 1,800 Foster Grandparents serve one-on-one as tutors and mentors to young people who have special needs. Senior Companions help homebound seniors and other adults maintain independence in their own homes. RSVP volunteers conduct safety patrols for local police departments, participate in environmental projects, tutor and mentor youth, respond to natural disasters, and provide other services throughout Michigan.

How do I get in touch with programs in my area?
At the Michigan Community Service Commission, we are looking for ways to connect each stream of service. Schools in Michigan are already using Senior Corps and AmeriCorps members in their area to strengthen their service-learning programs. How can you find these volunteers? Check out the MCSC website to see a map of the locations of the various service sites for each Michigan’s AmeriCorps program. And be sure to check back with the site in the coming months as a new interactive, online database will be launched, allowing visitors to conduct a more comprehensive search by location, program type, and program focus for all of Michigan’s national service programs!

The Legacy of Rural Service-Learning

By: Nicholas Holton, Service-Learning Coordinator at Kirtland Community College

In my third decade as a service-learning teacher, I often wonder, what were the underpinnings of my commitment to service as a pedagogy? I keep coming back to the strong rural traditions of my small country school. My teachers didn’t use terms like civic engagement, community service, or service-learning, but they did tell us we could help others. They did explain to us we had a responsibility to make our community a better place. Finally they did show us through service projects how to make our community better. Service-learning and civic engagement was alive in our small rural school back then, and it is even more vibrant today.

Rural areas in general and rural schools in particular are seen in one of two ways. Some think rural places are filled with peaceful bucolic towns of slow moving happy people. Others think of back woods filled with ignorant bumpkins ready to shoot anyone coming near. In fact, rural areas are filled with people who have the same problems as any large city. Poverty, crime, homelessness, domestic violence, and any other issue faced by large urban areas are also found in rural America. Helping our students to recognize the problems, and start to alleviate their effects is the mission of rural service-learning programs.

The challenge for rural service-learning teachers is to overcome the special challenges of rural areas to create meaningful projects that enrich student learning, Students, some reluctant at first to do service projects, embrace this as an alternative to the lecture-test method often found in our classrooms.

Just one example of a challenge faced by rural areas is the large geographical area of many rural districts. My local school district covers an area of approximately 500 square miles. Getting students to, and from, service projects is always an obstacle. Successful teachers find ways to overcome this through class trips, developing projects students can do at home, and using technology to reach out to others across vast distances. Similarly, other challenges unique to rural service-learning can be addressed through creative solutions.

My passion for service-learning can be traced back to my earliest classroom experiences in rural Michigan classrooms. My teachers knew an engaged citizenry was the best hope for the future of our country. Their commitment to students created adults ready for college, the workforce, and the responsibilities of a democracy. Today’s rural service-learning teachers are carrying on this tradition quietly down the back roads of Michigan, creating rich service opportunities for students and creating the next generation leaders.