[YL] Students and Teachers Honored with 100 Service-Learning Grants

Wed Feb 21 17:09:22 EST 2007

>From the YSA News department:

students AND TEACHERS honored with 100 service-learning grants for
national & GLOBAL Youth Service Day 2007

WASHINGTON- (February 21, 2007) - Twenty-nine students between eight and
25-years-old and 71 teachers and service-learning coordinators were
awarded the State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants for
National & Global Youth Service Day, April 20-22 by Youth Service
America and State Farm Companies Foundation. The $1,000 grants were
awarded in 37 states encompassing all academic disciplines and designed
to expose more people to the positive benefits of service-learning.

"The State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning grants open the door to
our young people to become fully engaged participants and leaders," says
Steven E. Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America. "These
grants will support young people as they step into meaningful
decision-making roles and make important contributions to their schools,
organizations, and communities. Studies have shown that students who
participate in service-learning demonstrate increased civic and social
responsibility and improved academic achievement."

"State Farm's philanthropic mission is to help build safer, stronger,
and better educated communities," says Kristy Funk, assistant secretary,
State Farm Companies Foundation.  "Partnering with organizations such as
YSA promotes the company's commitment to helping raise achievement
levels of our nation's teachers and students.  Service-Learning is
important as it provides a connection between classroom academics and
solving community issues, while linking school officials, parents,
community members, and students together.  The service-learning grants
are an excellent way to support the efforts of these students and
teachers."  

A sampling of the causes that the youth are undertaking in their
campaigns: 
*         CHILD HOMELESSNESS - Zachary, an 8-year-old from Florida will
lead 50 to 60 youth in a service-learning event about child
homelessness.  Starting on April 20, they will begin their 24 hours
living as homeless children at the local Toys R' Us parking lot. They
will sleep in appliance boxes and will eat only donated food. All youth
participants will receive a presentation from StandUp For Kids, an
organization that works with homeless youth, on what they see and deal
with when they work with homeless youth in the area. The event will
raise money to be used to make backpacks full of school supplies for
homeless youth and will serve as a way to educate children and the
community about this issue. His organization is Little Red Wagon
Foundation, Inc.
*         URBAN RENEWAL - Katelyn, a 10-year-old from Arkansas will lead
fellow elementary school students to convert a vacant urban lot adjacent
to the school into the King Nature Center. The center will become a
"living playground" with garden beds, nature trails, an outdoor
classroom, and environmentally-friendly playground equipment. 
*         INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS - Students at George
Washington University will organize a dance to celebrate senior citizens
in the Washington, DC community and to build intergenerational
relationships between seniors and college students. The "Senior Prom"
will include an afternoon of dinner, dancing, live performers and party
favors. The dance will build lasting relationships and will address the
issue of social isolation which is often prominent in the elderly
community.
*         LITERACY - Delaware high school members of the National Honor
Society and Student Cooks and Bakers will plan and facilitate an
interactive event to honor the 103rd Birthday of Dr. Seuss for local
elementary school participants. The Cooks and Bakers will provide
guidance to the elementary school participants in cooking various foods
that are inspired by Dr. Seuss books, such as green eggs and ham. 
*         PEDIATRIC CANCER - New York City middle school students
working with the Art Gives! program will form a partnership/buddy
program with pediatric cancer patients at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. The students will meet with the patients 4-5 times and
will work with them to design t-shirts. They will then organize an event
at the Cancer Center to showcase the t-shirts and raise awareness of
childhood cancer issues.
*         GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP - Texas elementary school students at E.L.
Kent Elementary will combine environmental science, social studies,
geography, art and music in a week long service-learning project to
foster unity within their diverse school, and to give them a sense of
belonging to the world around them. Projects will include a letter
writing campaign to the troops in Iraq, a school-wide recycling
competition, a food drive to benefit the local food bank, and the
construction of a community garden.

The profiles of the State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Projects
happening for National & Global Youth Service Day in April are at:
www.ysa.org/awards/stateFarmWinnersList.cfm. 

National & Global Youth Service Day (April 20-22, 2007), the largest
service event in the world, mobilizes youth to identify and address the
needs of their communities through service-learning and community
service. The event is organized by Youth Service America (YSA) with the
support of State Farm Companies Foundation as the Presenting Sponsor.
More than 115 National Partners and 51 Lead Agencies throughout the
United States organize projects. Overseas, National Lead Agencies in 118
countries around the world manage national events. Planning Tool Kits,
Service-Learning Curriculum Guides, classroom posters, grants, and more
are available for youth, parents, teachers and organizations. For the
U.S. Map of Service Projects for National & Global Youth Service Day
2007: www.YSA.org/map. 

Youth Service America is a national nonprofit resource center that
partners with thousands of organizations committed to increasing the
quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people ages
5-25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally. Founded in 1986, Youth
Service America's mission is to expand the impact of the youth service
movement with communities, schools, corporations, and governments. In
addition to National & Global Youth Service Day, which take place
concurrently each April, YSA also hosts SERVEnet (www.SERVEnet.org
<http://www.servenet.org/> ), providing the largest database of
volunteer opportunities in America. For more information: www.YSA.org
<http://www.ysa.org/> . 

State Farm(r) insures more cars than any other insurer in North America
and is the leading U.S. home insurer. State Farm's 17,000 agents and
69,000 employees serve nearly 73 million auto, fire, life and health
policies in the United States and Canada. State Farm also offers
financial services products through State Farm Bank(r). State Farm
Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm
family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 19 on the Fortune 500 list
of largest companies. For more information, please visit
statefarm.com(r).

# # #

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                   Contact:
Christina Wessell Batcheler
February 22, 2007
Youth Service America

202-296-2992 x 128

CWessell at ysa.org

-- Christina Wessell Batcheler
Christina Wessell Batcheler  -  Manager of Communications 
Youth Service America (YSA) 
Phone: 202-296-2992  x  128  |  Fax: 202-296-4030  |  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://www.SERVEnet.org
<http://www.SERVEnet.org>     
*For the Media Room: www.YSA.org\news <http://www.YSA.org/news> .  

**For the U.S. Map of Service Projects for National & Global Youth
Service Day 2007: www.YSA.org/map. 

*19th annual National & Global Youth Service Day events take place in
the United States on April 20-22, 2007 -
www.YSA.org <http://www.YSA.org>  

*8th annual Global Youth Service Day events take place in more than 115
countries April 20-22, 2007 -
www.GYSD.org <http://www.gysd.org/>  

Mission of Youth Service America: Youth Service America is a national
resource center that partners with thousands of organizations committed
to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for
young people, ages 5-25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally.
Founded in 1986, YSA's mission is to expand the impact of the youth
service movement with communities, schools, corporations, and
governments. YSA envisions a global culture of engaged youth who are
committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership, and
achievement.

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