High school students might be asking themselves the following:

• What’s an impressive amount of service hours?
• How many service hours do I need to be competitive in applying to college?
• What counts as service hours?

These are the questions that came up when I googled “required service-learning hours.” This is what I’m wondering about: what are the outcomes we want for our young people as they engage in meaningful service-learning?  

I think service-learning can be transformational for a young person. When a student finds an issue or community problem they care about and follows the service-learning IPARD process, they see themselves as a problem solver.  (To access more information on IPARD, sign up for the Resource Library and search “IPARD.”) They see the experience as one where they learn about themselves, build leadership skills and make a difference in their community. They apply what they are learning in their classroom to real world issues.  

It’s intrinsic – not something they do to just build their resume or transcript.

Students and teachers might view required service or service-learning hours as just one more box to check off. One student commented to his mother upon her prodding him to turn in his required service hours:

“You know mom, you’re not supposed to be doing community service just so you can tell someone you did them. They’ve made it like homework now, when you should be doing it because of the impact it has, not because it was assigned and you just need to turn it in.”

Harvard’s School of Education’s Making Caring Common Project helps us think about how to structure service experiences to promote ethical character. Turning the Tide, Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through College Admissions offers recommendations for reshaping the admission process. The report suggests that admissions offices prioritize quality – not quantity – of service experiences. Meaningful and sustained service that emerges from a students’ passion and interest might hold more weight than the number of hours a student accrues.  

When, and if, you are requiring service or service-learning hours, consider the following:

1. How does this requirement lead to meeting academic or learning goals?
2. What are other student outcomes that you hope the experience can elicit?
3. How could the student service experiences include working collaboratively with other students or community partners?
4. How can you build in the service-learning process of IPARD – Investigation, Planning and Preparation, Action, Reflection and Demonstration?  
5. Don’t forget the R – Reflection. How can you use Reflection as a way to deepen the experience for students?
6. How can students “do with” rather than “do for” a community that could lead to a deeper understanding of social structures and inequalities?

I’m eager to hear your thoughts on how you use required service and service-learning hours in your school.  Please feel free to email me at jrbascom@nylc.org.

And to learn more about how to integrate the IPARD process into your required service-learning, sign up for our Educator Institute this summer as we explore how to pump up youth engagement in the classroom through service-learning!

The post Required Service-Learning Hours – What’s in it for Young People? first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

“We are excited to launch our new website to better serve and empower educators to create service-learning experiences for their students,” said NYLC’s CEO, Amy Meuers. “We value youth leadership and contribution and this new website amplifies the positive change youth are making in this world through service-learning.”

The website is packed with resources to help educators integrate service-learning into their curriculum, including toolkits, best practices, and access to a community of service-learning educators. In addition, the website provides information about NYLC’s programs, resources, and services. Additionally, it amplifies youth voice and contribution through a student showcase and the Power of Young People podcast.

“This is a key part of our efforts to provide the best service-learning resources and support to educators,” said Meuers. “We know that service-learning is a powerful tool for building stronger, more civically-engaged communities, and we are committed to providing the resources and support educators need to make service-learning a reality in their classrooms.”

The launch of the new website is an exciting milestone for NYLC as it turned 40 this year, and the organization is confident that it will help to inspire more educators to embrace service-learning and make a positive impact on their communities. To learn more about the new website and NYLC’s service-learning resources, visit www.nylc.org. 

About National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC):

NYLC is a leading service-learning organization committed to empowering educators and students to create positive change in their communities. For over 40 years, NYLC has transformed classrooms, empowered teachers, and captivated students by leading the way in providing high-quality, dynamic service-learning content to school districts, classrooms, after-school programs, and everything in between.

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We drove 20 minutes from where the conference was to the Nashville Fire Department #20 which is right next to where the school shooting happened. It was pouring rain but that wasn’t gonna stop us, so we got out of our car with a tiny little umbrella and started running through the fire department’s front lawn, the water was dripping down our backs but the cards were safe! We got to the front of the building and someone opened the door and said “This must be important”! She let us in and I started to hand the cards to her and explain what we were there for, but she stopped me and said that there was a man in their lounge room that actually responded to the shooting. We handed the cards to him and he was very grateful and said that they have been hanging all the cards on the front window. We started chatting with them a bit and the nice woman that answered the door was actually EMS! So we said that we actually had EMS cards in our car and I offered to run to get them and she let me out the back door, I got back and we took a selfie and she said that they would give the cards out to the people that needed them! After a little more chatting they said they would also take the 911 dispatch and hospital staff cards and give them out to people they think need them.

The Police Department we went to was the Nashville Midtown Hills Police Precinct. When we got there the doors were shut and locked, it was closed. We started walking back to the car and then someone came out the side door! I ran over and introduced myself and my mom and then explained what we were doing and he was very happy being that he had responded himself. After a bit of chatting with him, we got back in the car and I said MOM WE FORGOT THE FIRST RESPONDERS CARDS! And I grabbed them and ran to catch him before he left, he thanked us and said he would give them out the next shift he had. We also left him the big “We Care” poster.

​In the end, making and giving cards to first responders in your local community is a great way to spread kindness and show your love. I really enjoy it because they go through and see a lot of hard things that can’t be undone and the cards make them feel loved.

The post Creating Kindness first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

Recently, we wrapped up the 2023 National Service-Learning Conference and celebrated the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)’s 40th birthday! This experience was incredible and impressive in every way. From the number of enthusiastic participants (even leaders from overseas!) and supportive environment on the Youth Advisory Council (YAC), to the astounding work of the NYLC staff and unique storytellers and presenters. There was so much trust and teamwork there, which I felt from the moment I met the NYLC team and YAC all the way to the way we embraced each other when saying our farewells.

I have learned so much from my fellow YAC members there with me—Michelle, Kaleb, Molly, and Rafiel—who are all extremely passionate, hardworking, intelligent, dedicated, thoughtful, and kind individuals. The same can be said for all of the NYLC staff (special thanks to Amy, Anthony, Miranda, and Zahra for guiding us every step along the way) who worked tirelessly to deal with logistics and coordination in order to shine the spotlight on the YAC and other leaders. Everyone supported each other and we created a beautiful learning and growing environment.

During the Conference, I was so honored to be given the opportunity to emcee a plenary session, present my personal passion project, “Research to Empower the Next Generation of Aspiring Young Researchers”, as well as contribute to the Guidebook on Education Equality that was presented at a workshop. Unlike many other conferences that I have attended before, which mainly consisted of me passively listening to speakers, this conference was truly an extension of the ideal classroom, allowing youth leaders to play a crucial role in a national movement. We have been given the opportunity to create something so spectacular that it changes how adults perceive young people.

What also made this conference so magical was the inspirational presenters and speakers, such as the CEO of AmeriCorps Mr. Michael Smith, former Congressman Brian Baird, the Youth Panel (Khalique Rogers, Mys. Helen Martin, and Walter Cortina), and many, many others. Just to name a few, I had key takeaways like “dreams don’t work unless you do”, finding commonalities with others and then advocating for why they should care about your issues, and the importance of being down-to-earth and working hard even in higher leadership positions.

Ultimately, this entire conference’s core was to empower youth through service learning and celebrate the tangible impact made. It serves its mission exactly! We learned, inspired, and connected here. I already cannot wait for the next conference and what is to come!

The post Reflecting on the 34th Annual National Service-Learning Conference first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

The post Celebrating 40 Years of Generating Change! first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

Quality service-learning experiences support contribution and leadership from diverse voices, providing every stakeholder a seat at the table in decision-making. It supports young people in learning to embrace the different perspectives, experiences, and contributions of their peers, as well as those of the community. It helps them gain a stronger perspective on issues by approaching them with vulnerability and humility.

According to author/researcher Shelley Billig in the article Research on K-12 School-Based Service-Learning – The Evidence Builds, “Service-learning has a positive effect on students’ interpersonal development and the ability to relate to culturally diverse groups.” To achieve positive outcomes through service-learning, a commitment to equity is required from students, educators, and community partners. Too often, service and service-learning experiences put a band-aid on a problem (e.g. making blankets for people experiencing homelessness) instead of looking at the root causes of becoming unhoused. Educators must consider how social justice can and should be part of the service-learning process, with an emphasis on reciprocal partnerships, diversity, reflection, and youth voice as students examine the institutions, systems, and barriers that are at the roots of the issues they are addressing.

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that supports young people to lead change where they see injustice, working in tandem with their community as partners. It invites young people to embrace multiple perspectives with respect and appreciation so together, they can achieve a common good. Only through equitable service-learning experiences, can we ever hope to address root causes of the issues and prevent them from happening again.

The post Equity in service-learning first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

Most colleges and universities have thousands of stories of service to tell, but no public place to tell them.  That’s a missed opportunity that can and should be solved in ways that are at once inspiring, affordable, sustainable and can lead to increased enrollment, donations, outcomes, and public engagement. Perhaps surprisingly, that can all be accomplished even in a time of declining enrollments, revenues, and tightened budgets.

Before describing how service stories can be more effectively told on campuses, it’s worth considering that at present there is no signature physical space – no museum, memorial, monument – or any other recognized public location anywhere in our nation to honor and tell the stories of service in ALL its forms. When you consider that the spirit of service to the greater good has been fundamental to our national character since the founding; that an ethic of service over self is essential to the success of any democratic republic – including our own; that service may be one of the few things that can unite people in spite of their differences, and that hundreds of millions of Americans are and have been involved in service in countless different ways, this is a remarkable omission.

The American story of service may be the best story we have to tell as a people and nation, but we are not telling it as well as we should. Colleges and universities already play a vital role in that history and story of service. It is in their best interest and that of their students to also play a major role in telling their service stories both within their own communities and beyond.

WIth the goal of creating a National Museum and Center for Service (NMCFS), a group of experienced professionals have joined together to establish a signature institution, to be located near the National Mall in Washington DC. Our vision is to create a new kind of museum experience. A vibrant, interactive, engaging place that honors not just the work of a few “great men” of the past, but instead brings to life in real time the greatness in spirit and deeds of all people from all walks of life. Whether service is part of one’s profession, as a volunteer, or through contributions, we intend to show how everyone has benefited from the service of others and how everyone can themselves dedicate their own talents, time and resources to give back.

What does that have to do with campuses? While the NMCFS is intended to be a place of prominence in our nation’s capital, not everyone goes to the capital and, more importantly, service is happening everywhere and deserves to be recognized everywhere. Higher education institutions have a unique responsibility to instill the spirit of service in our students and to prepare them with the tools to make a difference. Most campuses already have centers for service learning, and they do admirable work connecting students to service opportunities and coordinating with service agencies. But if we do not demonstrate, prominently and more publicly what that service looks like, who is doing it and why it matters, how can we expect our efforts to inspire service to be as effective as they could be?

Imagine, if every educational institution in the country created ongoing exhibitions telling the story of service in significant places on campus, such as libraries, student unions, dorms, and perhaps even in rec centers or sports stadiums, where people naturally gather or visit. Individual schools or departments could also display the service of their students and faculty in their own buildings. For some programs, like education, nursing, medicine, social work, psychology, public administration etc, this may be obvious, but why not also chemistry, physics, law and business schools, physical education and art? In addition to on-campus exhibitions, imagine if there were also “pop-up” exhibits or installations sharing that story within the towns and cities where campuses are located. All these initiatives would be even more powerful and effective if there were a network of institutions sharing best practices and interfacing with a central national organization and hub to spread the word.

How can this really happen when budgets are so tight? The answer is, incorporate the process of creating and maintaining the Campus Museums and Centers For Service (to coin a title) into nearly every aspect of campus activity – including recruiting, the academic curriculum, student life, alumni relations and donor outreach.

One does not need to seek expensive (and hard to win) grants from a federal agency or have specialized curatorial staff on contract (though if there is a museum science program on campus already, so much the better). The talent pool on campuses is truly incredible. Students and faculty bring skills from art, communication, computer science, architecture, writing etc. Make creation and then maintenance of the CMCFS a multidisciplinary for credit course, provide some stipends, give selected faculty release time. Also, work with local community service organizations to connect them with students and tell their stories.  Then make this all an integrated part of your recruiting efforts so visiting students and their families can see that attending your institution can help instill values, provide practical skills and experiences, and, yes, lead to jobs.

Just as service to others brings its own rewards to those who serve, so too, telling the stories of service on our campuses can bring rewards beyond the intrinsic value of the service itself. By creating tangible physical places and virtual museums of service on campus, you will have an even more compelling and tangible demonstration to show donors why what you do, and what they give, matters.

The post Campus Compact: Telling the story of service in Higher ED first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

It’s all of the above.  And more.

What practitioners of service-learning can all agree on is that youth voice is centered in service-learning – in fact, it’s one of the standards of quality service-learning. Service-learning provides youth with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service-learning experiences with guidance from adults. 

Consider these contrasts – it’s the difference between asking young people to show up for a park clean up OR having young people lead a “walk about” where they determine the needs in their community.

It’s the difference between a list of service projects for students to sign up for OR students identifying an issue – like hunger or poverty – and investigating what they can do to address the genuine community need.

It’s also the difference between adults designing action steps OR adults sharing the space for young people to make decisions, participate in project design, and even lead evaluation efforts.

For adults, this can be a practice in letting go of control and not expecting perfection. Yet, the outcomes of youth voice are invaluable for young people – learning from wins and losses, understanding the world around them, and strengthening their civic engagement muscle, which can be a lifelong habit.

Youth-led efforts are opportunities where youth actively participate in planning, decision-making, facilitation, reflection and evaluation on issues that matter to them, taking action they see as important. Through youth-adult partnerships, adults can act in supportive ways. This last sentence is important – youth-adult partnerships offer pathways for relationship building, a key to positive youth development.

This is NYLC’s vision: All young people will become civically informed and engaged global citizens by participating in service-learning during their formative years.  And we can all do that by partnering with young people to center their voices in the actions that they take!

The post What’s your definition of youth voice? first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

Without reflection, we may focus on what we do for others and not understand all the ways that service contributes to who we are as a person. When service-learning is done with quality, reflection is entwined throughout the student-centered service-learning experience – from investigation and planning, to action and demonstration – reflection helps everyone involved think deeply, critically, and connect to learning outcomes. Students understand what they gained from the experience as much as what they gave.

Last week’s The Power of Young People to Change the World podcast featured two students from Urbana High School’s Project Ignition team. These students reflected on what they are learning while tackling the number one killer of teens, car crashes. When we invite students to reflect on their service, they gain a better understanding of what they have learned. At Urbana, students are not only learning about safer driving habits, they are also learning about marketing and communication, research, and entrepreneurship.

Of course, it is not just students who gain from reflection during service-learning. Adults also gain a deeper understanding of their practice, their students, and themselves. It provides each of us with a new perspective, a new starting point from which to grow as educators and mentors to our students and the communities in which we live and serve. Educators Sarah Miller and Malik Peer are tackling issues of equity through Caring and Committed Conversations that drive changes in school culture and practices. Hear them reflect on their experience and service-learning practice.

Whether you are a student, educator, adult mentor or community member, reflection is a mirror that allows you to see yourself before, during, and after service. It is a way to connect service to learning. Think of it as the hyphen in service-learning. What would service-learning be without reflection? It wouldn’t; service-learning doesn’t exist without it.

The post What would service-learning be without reflection? first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.

The National Service-Learning Conference is the largest gathering of youths and practitioners from the service-learning field, drawing nearly 500 attendees from across the United States and several other countries. “The event is more than workshops and keynote addresses; it is an extension of the classroom, allowing for the youth and adult attendees to be part of a national movement, to learn and share with each other, and to demonstrate and celebrate the positive impacts each has had on the community and the world, “ NYLC CEO Amy Meuers.

Throughout the conference, youth plan programming, emcee plenary sessions, inspire attendees through keynote addresses, and lead workshops for youth and adult peers from around the world. Youth are given the opportunity to create something so spectacular that it changes how adults perceive all young people — as solutions to real problems.

“Volunteer Tennessee is very excited to partner with the National Youth Leadership Council on the 34th Annual National Service-Learning Conference.  It will boost our ongoing efforts to expand service-learning in the Volunteer State and offer a rare opportunity for our local partners to attend this well-respected, national conference in Tennessee.  The focus on service-learning also nicely compliments Volunteer Tennessee’s mission to encourage volunteerism and community service,” Jim Snell, Executive Director, Volunteer Tennessee.

The post Nashville, TN Hosts 2023 National Service-Learning Conference first appeared on National Youth Leadership Council.