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Mayerson Service Learning Initiative
Newsletter February 2011
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In This Email:
New Staff Introduction: Kelly Brockman
National Youth Service Summit: April 2, 2011
Rockwern Academy: A Cup of Tea with Friends
Glenn O. Swing: Pop Tabs for Ronald McDonald House
St. Joseph, Cold Spring: Reflections on Ronald McDonald House
St. Franics de Sales: Bin It 2 Win It
2011 Jefferson Awards for Public Service
Jefferson Award Project of the Month
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New Staff Introduction: Kelly Brockman
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Kelly Brockman joined the Service Learning team in January of this year. She has a BA from the University of Dayton in Political Science. She hopes to contribute her passion for helping others to her work with Children, Inc. As a native of Boone County, KY she is looking forward to working with the schools in her community and helping them carry out their dreams of Service Learning.
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National Youth Service Summit: April 2, 2011
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Join a free day of service and celebration on Saturday, April 2nd from 8am-4pm at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Cincinnati.
8-9am: Registration for Unite to Ignite service projects
9am-12pm: Community service projects throughout downtown Cincinnati
12-1pm: After party on Fountain Square with free food, games, music and celebrity guests
1-4pm: Service Symposium recognizing and celebrating the contributions of youth to our community with mini-grants, raffles and a service fair for youth service projects
Visit www.ugive.org for more information and to register for the Day of Service and Celebration. This event is free and open to the public. |
Rockwern Academy: A Cup of Tea with Friends
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Jewish and Muslim Children Meet Each Other Over “Three Cups of Tea.”
In the summer of 2010, a teacher, a librarian and a principal from two different schools in the Cincinnati area met to talk about a collaborative effort. Each would put together school-wide readings of Greg Mortenson’s “Three Cups of Tea”, an account of a mountain climber’s efforts to build schools throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan. Through a picture book and a young reader’s edition, students from both schools, pre-school to 8th grade, would read his story. Then after months of studying each other’s cultures and values, the students would meet each other for the first time and celebrate their partnership.
Two schools sharing a school-wide reading of the same book is an innovative idea. But it is the two schools involved, that has real significance. Rockwern Academy is a Jewish Day School in Cincinnati. The International Academy is a Muslim Day School in West Chester.
The students became pen pals. They exchanged letters and art work. Rockwern students decorated paper tea cups that they cut in half—keeping one half and sending the other to their pen pal. Connections were made in geography, math, language arts, religion, music and fine arts classes. Both schools also integrated their studies with service-learning by advocating for the needs
of Pakistani and Afghani children. While reading “Three Cups of Tea” students learned about the need for schools in this area of the Middle East. They extended their efforts toward raising money for Pennies for Peace, Mortenson’s charitable foundation which raises money to build schools in these remote regions. And while learning about these Pakistani and Afghani children, students at Rockwern Academy and the International School, learned just how similar they all are, sharing many of the same values and traditions as Jews and Muslims---and as kids.
Upon first meeting, pen pals searched for their missing half to make their tea cup whole. They then shared stories, drank tea, and sang songs together. They compared religious teachings and values. They shared favorite hobbies, movies, books and sports teams. They consolidated their pennies for peace, raising _______, collectively.
The schools were invited to join in Cincinnati’s celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by singing with the Martin Luther King Jr. Choral. The interfaith children’s choir filled Music Hall with songs of peace and hope, including the song Three Cups of Tea—
Three cups of tea. First cup, you're a stranger.
Three cups of tea. Second cup, a friend.
Three cups of tea. By the third you're family.
How long to trust a stranger? How long to share three cups of tea?
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Glenn O. Swing: Pop Tabs for Ronald McDonald House
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Kindergarten students from Glenn O. Swing Elementary School in Covington, KY visited the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House (RMH) on Wednesday, January 12. Students are in the midst of a Service Learning project collecting pop tabs. They are cultivating their counting skills, learning to weigh the tabs and equating the weight of the tabs to a monetary value. The field trip allowed students to learn about the purpose of RMH and the families that the facility serves. Students had the opportunity to tour the entire house including its various game and toy rooms. Exclamations of, “I wish I lived here!” echoed throughout the tour. Students also had the opportunity to view the world map, which displays countries of origin for the families that call this particular RMH “home”. Teachers and students left with a better understanding of the operations of the worlds 3rd largest RMH and obtained a more personal connection to the families they are helping.
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St. Joseph, Cold Spring:
Reflections on Ronald McDonald House
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Reflections from a visit to Ronald McDonald House
"Welcome to the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). Come in and watch TV, play some games, watch a puppet show, or read the best book ever! Hi! I will help you today. You can sit down on our soft furniture. I saw an art room and a meditation room. Awesome!
Oh, I almost forgot. If you save pop tabs, we turn it into things. (In fact, RMH earns up to $16,000.00 dollars a year with the help of soft drink tab donations!)This is the third largest Ronald McDonald House. People from Russia, China, Japan, come and all feel at home. This is a home away from home for children and their families." By Lauren Heck, 3rd grader.
St. Joseph, Cold Spring third graders designed and created activity books in computer, math and writing classes. They made journals for guests at RMH to reflect upon their experiences while their child is at Children’s Hospital as a patient. The students decorated and filled take away snack bags to sustain the parents staying in their child’s hospital room for long periods of time. As the class boarded Santa’s bus to tour RMH, Maria, a third grader, quietly approached her teacher Mrs. Irwin to share that she had created her own microenterprise raffle in her neighborhood, raising $14.00. Maria asked to present the money that day to meet the needs at Ronald McDonald House. Another student initiated a pop tab collection and brought a shopping bag full of tabs that day as well. This Service Learning project was as Lauren stated so well, AWESOME!
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St. Francis de Sales: Bin It 2 Win It
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St. Francis de Sales is one of seven Cincinnati schools participating in the “Bin It 2 Win It” recycling challenge. In honor of America Recycles Day, Sunny Delight Beverages Co. (SDBC) and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful (KCB) delivered single stream recycling dumpsters to the schools that qualified for the challenge. The dumpster, supplied by Rumpke, will be used to collect recyclable materials generated by the school and surrounding community.
The first grade teacher and her students initiated the school-wide program when they were confronted with the problem of not having a way to recycle on-site the plastic milk containers used at breakfast and lunch. Working with their Service Learning coordinator, they connected with KCB and applied for the SDBC grant. The third grade teacher and her students were also interested in developing a more comprehensive school-wide paper recycling initiative. Now the whole school is involved in the “Bin It 2 Win It” challenge. St. Francis de Sales will receive educational resources and programming to help promote successful recycling. SDBC will provide presentations on careers that improve sustainability. Students will engage the greater community through education and mentoring. We look forward to seeing this Service Learning initiative develop. Congratulations!
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2011 Jefferson Awards for Public Service
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From the beginning, the Jefferson Awards has been based on a simple idea, one of the most powerful ideas in the world—one person can make a difference. That is the heart of democracy at work. The Jefferson Awards are presented to student volunteers who have performed and showcased outstanding volunteer service in their communities and schools. The local Jefferson Award winner will be announced at the 2011 National Youth Service Summit during the Service Celebration in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 2, 2011
(Go to http://ugive.org/nyss for more information). Applicants must be present in order to win.
The local winner will represent our community at the Jefferson Awards National Ceremony in Washington, D.C. this summer from June 20-22, 2011. The chosen applicant will be provided with an all-expense paid trip, including hotel accommodations, meals, and airfare.
All nominees must be enrolled in a local high school as a sophomore or junior student. The selection criteria for the Jefferson Awards winners fall under two basic considerations: Outstanding Personal Acts (focusing on courage, vision, dedication, and tenacity) and Community Impact (focusing on community service and service learning).
Applications and references must be received by mail no later than
March 11, 2011. Any nominations received after this date will not be considered.
Application forms are attached.
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Jefferson Awards "Project of the Month"
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Due to the many snow days and snow delays over the past month we did not receive the minimum number of submissions required to select a Jefferson Award "Project of the Month." All nominations submitted for February will be included in the March selection process.
Nomination Process:
The Jefferson Award "Project of the Month" can be nominated by a teacher, administrator or student participating in or facilitating the service learning project. To nominate a specific project please fill our the form located in the Resources section of www.servicelearningnky.org. Email a copy to mconnolly@childerninc.org by the 15th of each month. All applications must include a nomination form and photo.
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Liaison Superstar: Deb Winkler, TLC
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Deb Winkler, with the Transformational Learning Center in Covington, KY has always been serious about Service Learning. For her and the students at TLC, Service Learning is how they do school. Deb supports her students and colleagues by finding grant money for projects, developing curriculum that connects service to the standards, building relationships with community partners, and working closely with the school’s Service Learning coordinator. That is why Deb is this month’s Liaison Superstar!
Caption—Robin Shuttleworth, Director and Deb Winkler, Media Specialist
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Contact Information: (859) 431-2075
Schools interested in sending project photos and articles for the newsletter or website may send them to mconnolly@childreninc.org.
Mary Kay Connolly
Service Learning Director
Extension 223
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This is a publication of The Children Inc Mayerson Service Learning Initiative
1053 Madison Avenue, Covington, KY 41011
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