Service learning trains students, helps community: Leominster Public Schools / Massachusetts

School Administrator, March, 2008

Each semester, 74 students in Leominster, Mass., elect to take the Community Service Learning and Community Career Connections course that is part of the curriculum offerings at Leominster High School.

The course reflects the recognition by Leominster Public Schools that there is a need for exemplary community service-learning programs in the schools that will engage all students and help them develop characteristics of good citizenship. Educators also believe service learning helps students make the connection between what they learn in school and the work world.

Leominster is a diverse, small urban school system with more than 6,000 students who have worked to develop strong partnerships with more than 52 local agencies and 72 businesses through the local N.W.C. Workforce Investment Board Youth Council. These established partnerships work with the district's 10 schools to create service-learning projects and internship sites for students.

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Students who elect to take the Community Career Connections course intern at area businesses that relate to their career interests and help them decide what path they may wish to follow after high school and what major to pursue in college.

Students take academic classes in the morning and report to their community site in the afternoon. They have a wide range of opportunities in various career clusters, and each student is assessed by his or her supervisor using the Massachusetts Department of Education Work Base Learning plan, which critiques students' growth in nine workplace competencies. Many participants in the program have related their service-learning experiences on their college and scholarship applications.

Frequently, students who have had attendance problems in the past improve their records after participating in the service-learning program. All students who participate are asked to reflect on their experience and share what they have learned and how their experience has made a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. The service-learning program resulted in Leominster Public Schools being named the Massachusetts state winner in the 2008 National Civic Star Award competition.

The high school also has a strong G.I.V.E. (Get Involved in Volunteer Experiences) program. More than 150 students actively participate in a service-learning program each month following five steps to exemplary service learning as outlined by the Department of Education. The steps are:

* Establish a need.

* Develop a plan.

* Perform the action.

* Reflect the experience.

* Recognize and celebrate the outcome.

The schools have a district coordinator for service-learning and partnership programs. All students who commit to more than 100 hours of service are recognized by receiving the Presidential Service Award for Community Service.

Lauren LeBlanc, a recent graduate of Leominster, said of her experience, "I learned that children I would never expect to be interested in community service really were. Being involved with your community is really a positive thing...."

For more information, contact Superintendent Nadine Binkley at Leominster Public Schools, 24 Church St., Leominster, MA 01453, or call (978) 534-7700, Ex. 316. Binkley's e-mail address is nadine.binkley@leominster. mec.edu.