(NAME-MCE) Make it a Semester of Service

[Christina Wessell Batcheler]

Make it a Semester of Service!
 
The Semester of Service (www.ysa.org/semester) is a new, public-private
strategy to help young people find their voice, take action, and have
impact on the most critical problems facing the world, such as climate
change, hunger, homelessness, malaria, water scarcity, disaster
preparation, aging, violence, and literacy.
 
In January 2008, Youth Service America and the Corporation for National
and Community Service are encouraging students, ages 5-25, to develop a
14 week service-learning project that launches on the Martin Luther King
Day of Service (January 21, 2008) and culminates on the weekend of
Global Youth Service Day (April 25-27, 2008).
 
The Semester of Service will link each event's existing partnerships,
create a quantum leap in the number of children and youth engaged in
service, and advance bold quantitative goals that the Corporation and
YSA have both set to expand the American youth service movement.
 
Projects will take place in classrooms as part of the academic
curriculum; in schools as part of the extra-curricular activities of
student councils, honor societies, student clubs, and sports teams; in
congregations of faith; and in youth development groups in neighborhoods
across the United States.
 
"Recent research has shown that projects must be of sufficient duration,
typically at least a semester of 70 hours long to have an impact on
students...Fewer hours simply do not give the students enough time to
grapple with difficult issues or to have a deep enough experience to
make the learning endure."   --Dr. Shelley Billig, Unpacking What Works
in Service Learning
 
"Martin Luther King was interested in big results not the short-term.
So, the idea of King Day being the signal for a long-term commitment by
millions of students, during or after-school, over a semester would have
warmed his heart.  Martin always asked us to do more than we were doing
because the Road ahead was still so long...the Mountain to climb was
still so tall.  The Semester of Service is just that opportunity to do
more."  --Senator Harris Wofford, Colleague and Lawyer for Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
 
Attached is the Semester of Service Strategy Guide for you to use and
share, far and wide.  It has resources for teachers, youth development
leaders, and students.  Content includes Civic Engagement & Outcomes;
Connecting to Academic Standards; Rethinking the Teacher's Role;
Curriculum Outline; and a 2008 Season of Service Calendar January to
June.
 
 
 
-- Christina Wessell Batcheler
Christina Wessell Batcheler  -  Director of Communications 
Youth Service America (YSA) 
Phone: 202-296-2992  x  128  |  Fax: 202-296-4030  |  Cell: 240-483-6288
| cwessell at ysa.org <mailto:cwessell at ysa.org>  | 1101 15th Street, NW,
Suite 200  |  Washington, DC  |  20005 
http://www.YSA.org <http://www.YSA.org>   |  http://
<http://www.servenet.org/> www.servenet.org <http://www.servenet.org>  |
*For the Media Room: www.YSA.org\news <http://www.YSA.org/news> 
*Join millions of people celebrating Global Youth Service Day this April
25-27, 2008!