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Service-Learning Success Stories

K-12 Sector Service-Learning Success Stories

The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse knows what great work you do and we want others to know, too. Please send us stories and photos of your service-learning successes.

  • No Word for Bubbles (A Learn and Serve America Grantee)
    Who would have guessed blowing bubbles and playing soccer would have created the bridge that crossed the communication gap between a refugee family from Burundi, and the 1st-3rd graders at ANSER Charter School in Boise, ID? But that is what happened when ANSER partnered with the Agency for New Americans. The students from ANSER visited the Agency, and watched an ESL class. By reading the...
    K-12 Sector
  • College students rock a campus of expelled students
    Beginning in the fall of 2005, an innovative collaboration has introduced music into the lives of at-risk students, and at the same time brought University students into our neediest communities. Through the concept of service learning, music students from California State University Fresno have been working in classrooms of the Fresno County Office of Education’s Teilman Education Center...
    K-12 Sector
  • Students and Teachers Engage in Service Learning (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    Last fall, teachers at Powerhouse, a small school within Lakewood's Clover Park High school, kicked off the school year by spending one of their half-day professional development sessions participating in community service projects. The staff was divided into four groups and worked at a soup kitchen, family resource center, organic farm for disabled adults, and local wetlands. Afterwards they...
    K-12 Sector
  • Studying History by Studying People: What You Can't Learn in Textbooks (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    Student quotes: "It is important that people tell their stories. Older people have stories and we can learn a lot from them that we can’t learn in textbooks…it opens your eyes to things you’re never going to experience." -- Tina Chandler Sophomore Windward High School. "I used to think that history was a big picture thing. But now I realize that it impacts...
    K-12 Sector
    Tribes / Territories Sector
  • From the Cafeteria to the Gas Tank (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    It's lunch time at Heritage High School and the teachers are discussing their weekend. Gwen Thompson, our Advanced Placement Chemistry and Physics teacher shares how she attempted to create bio-diesel in her home. Jim Neiman, the Careers in Technical Education teacher, takes an interest in Gwen’s idea. Both instructors have recently purchased vehicles that run on diesels. Gwen knows...
    K-12 Sector
  • Technology & Teamwork Assist Local Emergency Planners! (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    Students from Laconia High School in New Hampshire are well on their way to the creation of a DVD that will contain blueprints and critical information to be used by emergency services. In addition to creating a new emergency brochure for parents, students are using state of the art Computer Aided Drafting software and laser measuring tools to create detailed floor-plans and 3-D views of each...
    K-12 Sector
  • Learning Takes Root in Michigan (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    Hands-on learning gained new meaning when students at Lincoln Elementary in Wayne Westland planted six trees as part of a service-learning project called Rooting for the Rouge. The trees will help keep excessive storm water runoff and pollutants out of the Rouge River . Lincoln was the first of nine district schools to host events benefiting the rouge. "We voted on which trees to plant. We...
    K-12 Sector
  • Creating a New Path (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    Students from CASMAN Alternative Academy in Manistee , Michigan recognized a need for a better place to walk dogs instead of down a dirt road. Partnering with their local Humane Society, the students set about creating a pleasant walking and training environment for dogs and volunteers at the Homeward Bound Animal Shelter. Students cleared and laid a quarter mile path on the Humane Society...
    K-12 Sector
  • Creating a Healthy Environment (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    Armed with rakes, wheelbarrows, shovels, and cordless drills, more than 150 freshman students from the Lowell Area Schools helped prepare the Mel Trotter Ministries Camp & Retreat Center for summer campers. The Center, located near Hopkins , Michigan , serves at-risk youth from the Grand Rapids area. It offers a safe and healthy outdoor environment for campers to learn about themselves,...
    K-12 Sector
  • Serving Our Community Kids Style (SOCKS) (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)
    700 students, the entire student body of Independence Elementary in Clarkston, participated in service-learning during February. Kindergarteners made gift bags for Haven, a shelter for abused women and children; First graders made dog bones for the Humane Society and gathered materials for bird nests; Second graders made care packages for service men and women including letters from the students...
    K-12 Sector