Service Learning Youth Council Retreat a HUGE Success!

Written by: Ellen King, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

In early December, members of the Service-Learning Youth Council (SLYC) joined the Learn and Serve – Michigan team at the Michigan Community Service Commission’s office for a retreat. SLYC is the Michigan Community Service Commission’s youth advisory group. SLYC (pronounced "slick") was created in 2002 to connect young people with the organization’s youth-focused grantmaking program, Learn and Serve - Michigan. Each Learn and Serve - Michigan school-based grantee is eligible to nominate one young person to serve on SLYC. SLYC members work with the Learn and Serve team at the MCSC to further public support for service-learning in schools and communities across Michigan.

The SLYC members are a very diverse group, to say the least. They are students in the seventh to 12^th grades, come from as far as Traverse City or as close as Ionia, and every area in between. Out of 23 members, there are six returning from last year who attended this retreat and they include: Tylar, Jackson, Jackson, Shane, Cinque, and John. There were just three members who did not make it to the retreat. Also of note, one member who did make it recently returned from Europe the day prior to the retreat.

And who am I? My name is Ellen King, and I am the new Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA. As a VISTA, I am supporting low-income communities by providing resources that encourage service-learning. One of my many responsibilities is coordinating the members of SLYC by hosting conference calls, assisting them with outreach, and guiding them in their development of service projects. I am really looking forward to serving these students.

The retreat focused on jump-starting the members on their 2011 Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) projects and helping them get to know each other through several team building and icebreaker activities. One of the first tasks they had was to identify problem areas within their communities which could serve as potential project ideas. This list was eventually narrowed down to child abuse, community violence, education, and environmental stewardship. Members joined the group they were most passionate about in order to brainstorm possible service projects.

SLYC members also discussed the importance of community partners, and how they can contact their teachers, peers, parents, and community organizations for assistance with this service project. They were broken into groups and asked to present valuable service-learning information as if they were presenting to one of those four resources. It appeared to me that after these presentations there was a light bulb that turned on in each of the student’s heads, as if they knew their project could include as many people as they wanted.

As an exploration of how they can use video for outreach and presentations, each student created a video explaining why service-learning is important to them and why others should get involved in service-learning. We distributed Flip video cameras, and asked the members to start recording. Before we got started with this project, I gave a presentation on the different types of leadership styles in Hollywood. This served to allow the students to have an idea of where each person was coming from as they worked together for the video creation project, but also in general, to start thinking about their respective leadership style. The four styles were: Director, Producer, Analyzer, and Editor. For me, it was important to convey to the members that knowing your leadership style is crucial to understanding how you work with other people at home, school, and as a SLYC representative – and for forming roles in their video teams.

The videos from the students were an enormous success. We had two distinctive groups rap about service-learning, one group included an underlying message of paying it forward, and two videos consisted of interviews of why the members participate in service-learning and why it is important to them. These videos, and many more from the weekend will be posted to the MCSC’s YouTube channel in the coming weeks and months. We will be sure to let you know when more are put up! In the mean time, check out the featured video below.

Another of the expectations of the SLYC members is to write a blog for the Learn and Serve – Michigan’s Resources Blog. The blog topics will range from their 2011 GYSD project ideas to telling their story about their interest in service. Stay tuned, because over the course of the next few weeks, you will see blog posts from Jaylon, Danielle, and Christopher. These posts are just the beginning of many to come!