Service-Learning Corps - Colorado College

The Financial Aid Office and the Partnership for Civic Engagement piloted the ‘Service-Learning Corps’ (S-L Corps) initiative in Fall 2007. This program partners Colorado College work-study students with local K-12 or CC teachers to provide support to teachers in planning and implementing service-learning projects in the community. During the first block of the school year, S-L Corps members will have the chance to meet teachers from all grade levels and subject areas and form a partnership with the one that best matches their interests. The position includes direct work with students in the classroom and work that can be done from campus.

Program specifics: S-L Corps members work with their partner teacher up to 10 hours per week, attend 8 hours of initial training, and participate in monthly professional development opportunities and check-ins with partner teacher to mutually evaluate the program.

Sample activities include:

• Presenting to the class about an area of expertise related to the project (i.e. local ecology)
• Making connections with local non-profits or individuals in the community
• Facilitating connections to the media to publicize project
• Seeking and applying for funding for a project
• Working with small groups of students throughout the process
• Recruiting class speakers
• Teaching a lesson to the whole class
• Researching tools for reflection, how to incorporate youth voice, and project demonstration
• Creating lesson plans for the service-learning project
• Explaining service-learning to a class or community member
• Seeking and applying for funding for a project

Deb Yazulla Sharpe, the Educational Programs Coordinator, is the main point of contact for K-12 programming. Please also see the job description and student application for additional information.

*The Colorado College Financial Aid Office partners with several local community service agencies, including School District 11, to place students in direct service positions. The Partnership for Civic Engagement is seeking funding to expand S-L Corps eligibility, but currently students must have federal or state work-study awarded to them as part of their financial aid package to qualify as a Corps member.

Service-learning is a teaching tool that allows youth to apply their academic knowledge to problems or issues in the community. Service-learning helps answer the often-asked question “Why am I learning this?” by making relevant the knowledge students learn in the classroom. This strategy aims to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.

Past projects include:

The Video Production class at Wasson High School has partnered with Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care to pilot “Reflections,” a program in which students work in teams to create 5-20 minute videos for Hospice patients and their families. The Reflections program is a way for students to apply their skills to create invaluable legacies for hospice patients and their families.

A Spanish class at North Middle School decided to make their school more Spanish-speaker friendly. In order to address this community need, the students have developed public signs in Spanish at North and translated the entire May monthly newsletter into Spanish. In addition, they have instructed teachers in the use of basic Spanish phrases they can use for parent conferences.

At West Middle School students developed West’s first school-wide recycling project: TRAP (Teens Recycle All Paper). Students measured boxes, collected data on the volume of recycled material each week, added figures and graphed the data to tie into math standards. Students also read articles about recycling, practiced public speaking, and improved their technology skills.