Newspaper Article About Service Learning

(By Travis Moore Of the KeizerTimes)

If you've noticed more and more young people helping with community service around Keizer, you aren't alone.

With the help from a $10,000 grant received through the Oregon Department of Education, every Whiteaker Middle School student will be doing some kind of service-oriented learning this school year.

In service learning, students learn real-life skills while helping their community. Whiteaker teachers have used service learning in recent years, but only in a few special classes.

Students in Michelle Grabenhorst's seventh grade Quest Class have done service learning projects for the last seven years. The Quest Class teaches students life skills. Heather Burns has also taught service learning in her eighth grade health class in recent years.

But the $10,000 grant ensured that every Whiteaker student will try service learning this year. Most of the money has gone toward training teachers for service learning.

Grabenhorst and Burns have been involved in that process with Whiteaker's teachers. And now that most of the training is done, Whiteaker students can be found all over Keizer -- ringing Salvation Army bells, helping the Keizer Police Department, being mentors for younger students and helping teachers in the local elementary schools.

Students decide which projects to do. After breaking into groups of about four, the kids identify a need in their community. Then they decide on a project to help meet that need. The students plan the project themselves and carry it out. Afterward, they review and celebrate their accomplishments.

Whiteaker sixth graders are doing service projects in their classrooms or around the school. Seventh graders are tackling larger projects around the school, or on field trips -- such as a trip to the beach to pick up litter. Eighth graders go into the community and do projects around Keizer.

"If we hadn't gotten the grant, we wouldn't be doing this school wide," Grabenhorst said. "Every student will be doing something with service learning. They apply things they have learned in the classroom like math, reading, or science -- and they fill a need in the community."

Donna Wyatt's eighth grade students were among the first to begin.

"Most of the students want to just jump into their projects," she said. "There has been talk of a fundraiser for the Keizer skate park. Some kids are showing interest in mentoring -- where eighth graders would befriend sixth graders and help them with the transition into Whiteaker."

"Some expresses interest in doing some anti-vandalism things after the vandalism that happened here. Some were thinking about doing fundraisers to raise money to help cover the cost of the damage done during the vandalism."

Recently, some of Wyatt's eighth graders have helped with physical education classes at Clear Lake Elementary School, rung bells for the Salvation Army at the Keizer Safeway, and helped out at the Keizer Police Department.

Ryan Pillsbury, who helped at Clear Lake, said it was a good way.

"These are good little kids," he said. "They tire me out. It seems like they like having us here."

Ryan Pillsbury, Jordan Purdy, Cary Fitzpatrick and Brian Kissler helped out at the Keizer Police Department last year by cleaning squad cars as part of a seventh grade service project. Fowler and Perkins teamed with Andy Austin this year to help with the local police again.

"We did it last year -- so we know what we are doing," Fowler said. "We thought the police station could use the help."

In addition to doing projects, students used a digital camera to build a Web site to explain what they are doing. Students also prepared brochures about their efforts.

Keizer may benefit from Whiteaker students' community service for years to come. The $10,000 was only for this year, but Burns said the school can apply for a grant for the 1998-99 school year that would be aimed toward projects instead of teacher training.

"My dream for the future is to have a service learning elective where students can tackle bigger tasks," she said. "We've had great support from community businesses in this, and we couldn't do it without help from parents.

"It's been great. It gives students a chance to use the tools they have gained in the classroom. I've never had a student ask me why we do this. They never wonder about the value of the projects or why they are important.