Service Learning: An On-Ramp to National Service

This article examines the combination of academics and service that comprise service-learning, and its connections to high levels of civic engagement and leadership skills. The ServiceNation initiative, which supports the belief that service should be an even more integral part of who we are as a nation, is also highlighted. The authors, president and board chairman of the National Youth Leadership Council, present information about ServiceNation, including the following on its aims to increase K-12 service learning:

1) through the Learn and Serve Engaged Schools initiative, challenging school-community partnerships to develop and actively disseminate the most innovative ways to engage students in service-learning; 2) through Youth Engagement Zones, funding consortia in high-risk communities to address the dropout crisis by engaging young people in tackling problems; and 3) through A Summer of Service, offering young people the chance to spend a summer serving together with a diverse group of peers in their communities as a "rite of passage." (authors)