Utilizing baby boomer volunteers as advisors to service-learning projects
Abstract
More than fifteen years ago, a high school in a small, coastal Oregon town began a senior project that fostered civic engagement in its students. Set within the context of a community-wide approach to intergenerational service-learning that begins in the earliest grades and continues through retirement for many adults, today, service-learning has become a way of life for students of the Tillamook School District. All graduating students complete 30 hours of community service as a requirement for participation in commencement ceremonies. Adding to the success of this undertaking is a student-selected older-adult committee that advises each student as he or she plans and pursues a service project. This effective practice was submitted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in December 2006 for the SaYES Initiative.
Issue
Because high school seniors can profit from feeling a part of their community beyond their role as students, Tillamook High School has developed a graduation requirement that benefits both students and the community. High-school graduates need to fulfill a 30-hour service-learning project requirement, but are often overwhelmed by the scope of this assignment.
Action
In 1991, a high school civics teacher at Tillamook High School started a senior project requirement for students taking his course. Seniors, through their projects, contributed many service hours to the Tillamook, Oregon community. Originally, it was a 40-hour requirement that began in September and continued through May. Currently, for 2006-07 seniors, the requirement is 30 hours of community or school-based service, beginning in October and ending mid-April with reflection and presentation.
The project is now a requirement for any senior who wishes to participate in the high school graduation ceremony. Project parameters are fairly broad. Students design and implement a service-learning project that benefits the school or community. Additionally, students must select one continuous project to implement skills they have either learned in the classroom or skills they would like to acquire through service-learning.
The service-learning project planning process and logistics include local, age 50+ adults. As a unique component to this program, when students submit their written proposals, they must also submit the names, signatures, and contact information for two adult, mentor/sponsors. Typically, these are age 50+ adults who live in the community and want to volunteer to help the graduating seniors. Mentors sign off on project progress reports each month and those forms are used by the coordinating teacher to measure student progress.
Students select their own projects and their mentors; usually 140 or so students participate. Mentors provide substantial help with paperwork, reflection components, and with overall direction of the project. Student projects have included:
- Estuary restoration
- A women's' crisis center project
- A retirement center project
- Fish and wildlife projects
- Junior high assistance projects
- Elementary school assistance projects
- A Habitat for Humanity project
This program has developed with the work of dedicated teachers, school administrators, and community members. Additionally, the Tillamook School District Board legitimized service-learning across the district by adopting a service-learning policy that requires the incorporation of service-learning components across grades K-12 and links to specific curriculum standards. A coordinating teacher has also developed a multi-page handbook to help senior-project students begin and carry out their service-learning work.
Context
Baby boomers (those born 1946–1964) are emerging as a significant volunteer resource. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) intends to encourage increased partnering among 50+ adult volunteer organizations, schools, and community-based organizations engaged in service-learning. The entire community wants to tap into this new and expanding volunteer resource.
The Tillamook School District has close to 2,100 K-12 students. There are three elementary schools, one junior high, one high school, and one alternative school. The Title I (free-and-reduced lunch) population is approximately 50 percent.
The community of Tillamook, Oregon is situated at the southeast end of Tillamook Bay on the Pacific Ocean. A county seat, the City of Tillamook has a population of approximately 5,000. Tillamook County (population approximately 25,500) has an economy based primarily upon agriculture, forest products, commercial fishing, and recreation/tourism. There are approximately 23 people per square mile over Tillamook County's 1,125 square-mile area.
Outcome
The senior project graduation requirement is a culmination of school service-learning work that begins in early grades for Tillamook School District students. Students have grown up serving their community, and it is an integral part of what they do and expect. The school benefits, the community benefits, and most importantly, students learn important concepts of service and learning as part of their daily lives.
Evidence
Of those students intending to graduate from high school, and who must do a senior project also, about 98 percent begin and complete the work. Success is a result of many factors: the coordinating teacher's organization: sustained assistance from two older-adult mentors for each student; students' hard work; and the support for and interest in service-learning across the community.For More Information
Resources
Resources for 2006-2007 National High School Debate on National Servicefrom the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
Making the Connection: SaYES to Intergenerational Service-Learning (online course)
from SaYES: Seniors and Youth Engaged in Service
Related Practices
Related sites
Northwest Regional Education Service District
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse