Students in first, second, and third grade at Aquila Primary Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, have the opportunity to be a part of their school’s Service Club, engaging in short- and long-term service-learning projects every other Tuesday after school. The students help plan the projects, make decisions, and are responsible for the work. They feel the success of their projects and pride in helping someone else and they discover how caring about other people can make lives better. According to Jennifer Beeman, a teacher at Aquila and the leader of the Service Club, more than 27 Developmental Assets are built through student participation in the club.
Service Club projects serve both local and distant communities. An Aquila family that travels yearly to Honduras suggested holding a drive for urgently needed supplies. Last year they collected school supplies for children in Honduras, and this year the Service Club is holding a medical and hygiene supplies drive.
Once a month, the group of 40 students visits with residents of the Golden Living Center. The students split up into groups and read to the elderly residents, do art projects, play games, and talk about their lives. The other meeting each month is spent either planning upcoming projects or going on trips to local organizations to learn about how they serve the community and what young people can do to help. Recently, the group visited STEP, an agency in St. Louis Park that provides food, clothing, transportation, and other types of assistance to residents in times of need. The students helped stock food shelves and get the facility ready for families. In addition, the group has participated in food drives, Trick or Treat for UNICEF, and a Mix-It-Up lunch, where everyone is encouraged to sit by different people and meet someone new.
The Service Club is working on a project for the National Youth Day of Caring in April with St. Louis Park’s Youth Development Committee (YDC), a group made up of youth in grades 4 through 12 across the school district. Students in this group are chosen for their leadership qualities, but are not necessarily the most outgoing among their classmates. This group provides young people with opportunities to develop their leadership skills while serving others.
Aquila recently began an International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and the IB Attitudes and Profiles included in the school day are also a part of the Service Club. The members of the Service Club reflect on them formally every third or fourth meeting, talking about their feelings before and after they did a project or visited an organization and how they think those they served felt. They also do periodic written reflections about what it means to be in Service Club and help others, and what their favorite projects were and why.
It is sometimes a challenge for Beeman, given the limited meeting times and the large group of young people, but parents and other staff help to lead the group and it works well. The Service Club is always interested in learning more about the needs in local communities, and about service-learning projects that other groups have done to find ideas for future projects.
For more information on the Aquila Service Club, contact Jennifer Beeman at beeman.jennifer@slpschools.org or (952) 928-6489.
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