During the spring of 2010, the Georgetown Project and the Rotary Club of Georgetown, in partnership with Youth Serve America, put the spotlight on youth organizations in Georgetown, Texas through a collaboration called the Semester of Service Youth Engagement Initiative.
Semester of Service linked two prominent national service events—Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and Global Youth Service Day—through an extended service-learning program. Students developed a semester-long service project that would take place in the classroom, as part of an extra-curricular activity or club, in a religious congregation, or in a youth development organization in the community. Student groups were selected through mini-grant applications and received anywhere from $500 to $1,500 from the Rotary Club to carry out their chosen project.
Once selected for Semester of Service, Georgetown youth, including students in both middle and high school, spent four months addressing a community need in the three focus areas: health, hunger, and the humanities. Throughout Semester of Service, adult sponsors from the Rotary Club supported the young people as they guided the progression of the service projects.
Semester of Service was designed to teach youth in the Georgetown community about the importance of service and create awareness about the 40 Developmental Assets. The following are descriptions of each youth-led service project from the Semester of Service final report:
Semester of Service, Leading with Assets: The leadership for the entire Semester of Service initiative was undertaken by The Georgetown Project’s Youth Action Council (YAC), a group of high school students organized for service and youth empowerment around the 40 Developmental Assets. This group took the lead in promoting the Semester of Service concept and organizing regular reporting meetings with the other youth organizations who received grants.
In the beginning, this group organized a joint meeting of all grant recipients and adult mentors and sponsors to assure that all projects were grounded in the Search Institute Developmental Assets. The YAC also organized a Leading With Assets seminar that featured Search Institute and Vision Training Associates presenter Jim Conway.
Over 500 youth and adults were served through asset awareness and leadership development activities conducted by The Georgetown Project’s YAC leaders during Semester of Service.
After School Action Program: This project, a middle school extended-day program, operated under the working title of “Growing Assets—Operation Green; Health and Humanities.” School gardens were planted on the three middle school campuses in Georgetown. Over 1,000 students, staff, Rotarians, and citizens become involved directly in planning, implementing, and maintaining these sites.
The project was evaluated by analyzing the reduction and offset of the carbon footprint on each campus through determining how much waste was generated at each campus (a combination of electrical usage and trash accumulated). The reduction of non-recyclable waste, lowering of electric usage, and the carbon offset through planting in the gardens was the measurement of success.
There were 30 students directly involved with the program and many others indirectly involved. Ultimately, 1,800 middle school students and related staff will enjoy the benefits of this initiative.
Eagle Locker Expansion and Education: This Georgetown High School program proposed to add and stock Eagle Lockers in the high school alternative program and the three middle schools. The intent of an Eagle Locker is to create a safe-haven location on each campus where students that qualify as homeless (according to the McKinney-Vento Federal Law) can be provided with clothing, personal effects, school supplies, food and snacks, as well as encouragement and moral support.
Because of this project, each campus in Georgetown ISD that serves students in grades 6-12 now has the capacity to serve the needs of homeless students on each campus. The direct involvement of 25 student leaders will eventually have impact on all homeless students (currently numbering 255) in GISD.
Boys and Girls Club of Georgetown “Caring about our Community”: The concept behind this initiative was to teach young people in the club to engage in service to others, especially the elderly, that live in the area immediately surrounding the club—Stone Haven Public Housing Complex.
The activities that served as the focal point of inter-generational experience were a month-long trash pick-up in the area (23 residential yards were cleaned), two pancake meals for residents prepared by students (50 persons served), and a senior citizen game day during spring break (20 seniors involved). The students involved were also taught about the issue of hunger by touring the Austin Area Food Bank and the Caring Place in Georgetown.
Visit The Georgetown Project website to read more about Semester of Service
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