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Service-Learning Success Stories

The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse knows what great work you do and we want others to know, too. Please send us stories and photos of your service-learning successes.


  • S.A.V.E. In Action - 2005-06 Cleaned up Knotty Oak Cemetery & re-flagged veterans’ graves Created anti-vandalism signs, bookmarks & bumper stickers for grades K-12 and visited schools Put in $6000 worth of donated landscaping to beautify our school Created Power Point presentation to educate students and communities about vandalism Taught classes at school’s...
    K-12 Sector
  • Kerry McManus stands behind the ninth grade Windward student as she leans down to collect a water sample from the Schell Ditch Basin. "Make sure you take the sample from the middle, not the edge," Kerry coaches the student. "You don't want sediment in your sample." Kerry is the Education Coordinator at the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) a community-based...
    K-12 Sector
  • Who would have guessed blowing bubbles and playing soccer would have created the bridge that crossed the communication gap between a refugee family from Burundi, and the 1st-3rd graders at ANSER Charter School in Boise, ID? But that is what happened when ANSER partnered with the Agency for New Americans. The students from ANSER visited the Agency, and watched an ESL class. By reading the...
    K-12 Sector
  • Beginning in the fall of 2005, an innovative collaboration has introduced music into the lives of at-risk students, and at the same time brought University students into our neediest communities. Through the concept of service learning, music students from California State University Fresno have been working in classrooms of the Fresno County Office of Education’s Teilman Education Center...
    K-12 Sector
  • Last fall, teachers at Powerhouse, a small school within Lakewood's Clover Park High school, kicked off the school year by spending one of their half-day professional development sessions participating in community service projects. The staff was divided into four groups and worked at a soup kitchen, family resource center, organic farm for disabled adults, and local wetlands. Afterwards they...
    K-12 Sector
  • Student quotes: "It is important that people tell their stories. Older people have stories and we can learn a lot from them that we can’t learn in textbooks…it opens your eyes to things you’re never going to experience." -- Tina Chandler Sophomore Windward High School. "I used to think that history was a big picture thing. But now I realize that it impacts...
    K-12 Sector
    Tribes / Territories Sector
  • It's lunch time at Heritage High School and the teachers are discussing their weekend. Gwen Thompson, our Advanced Placement Chemistry and Physics teacher shares how she attempted to create bio-diesel in her home. Jim Neiman, the Careers in Technical Education teacher, takes an interest in Gwen’s idea. Both instructors have recently purchased vehicles that run on diesels. Gwen knows...
    K-12 Sector
  • Students from Laconia High School in New Hampshire are well on their way to the creation of a DVD that will contain blueprints and critical information to be used by emergency services. In addition to creating a new emergency brochure for parents, students are using state of the art Computer Aided Drafting software and laser measuring tools to create detailed floor-plans and 3-D views of each...
    K-12 Sector
  • Hands-on learning gained new meaning when students at Lincoln Elementary in Wayne Westland planted six trees as part of a service-learning project called Rooting for the Rouge. The trees will help keep excessive storm water runoff and pollutants out of the Rouge River . Lincoln was the first of nine district schools to host events benefiting the rouge. "We voted on which trees to plant. We...
    K-12 Sector
  • Students from CASMAN Alternative Academy in Manistee , Michigan recognized a need for a better place to walk dogs instead of down a dirt road. Partnering with their local Humane Society, the students set about creating a pleasant walking and training environment for dogs and volunteers at the Homeward Bound Animal Shelter. Students cleared and laid a quarter mile path on the Humane Society...
    K-12 Sector