TAYLOR MILL - A few minutes after Paul Ruggeri gave his Woodland Middle School sixth-grade business class a writing assignment Thursday morning, a student approached his desk.

"I don't know what service means," the boy told his teacher.

"Well, what does it mean to serve someone?" Ruggeri asked.

"To help them?" the student asked rhetorically.

That moment of realization was a microcosm of what some Northern Kentucky education and community leaders hope happens on a regional scale by the year 2015 or before-an understanding among all students of what it means to serve others and why it is important. Ruggeri's students were assigned Thursday morning to write journal entries on three things they have learned from their current class project-to deliver donated school supplies to students in Baton Rouge, La., affected by Hurricane Katrina. Specifically, Ruggeri asked them to write what they had learned about leadership, teamwork and service.

The 32 students in Ruggeri's second-period class have divided into task-driven teams. One team is responsible for project management. Another is charged with assembling an airplane-shaped figure out of cardboard boxes to serve as a collection point. Yet another team decided that the boy and girl who collect the most donations will each receive a prize.

The students spend much of the class period freely interacting with each other while working on their assigned tasks. Management team members must check with Ruggeri before implementing key decisions.

Ruggeri told the students Thursday that they had to be ready by this Wednesday to implement their plan. Seventh-grade business students are also participating by creating in-school advertisements to increase awareness of the project.

"Entrepreneurism is an interesting focus for kids this age," said Ruggeri. "They've been involved with it already if they have mowed lawns or sold cold drinks from the roadside, but they just don't realize it."

The service-learning component of the class is one that will become more prevalent in Northern Kentucky curricula as more teachers receive training. Service learning is growing at the grass-roots level locally through the efforts of Covington-based Children, Inc. Inclusion of service learning in the curricula of all Northern Kentucky schools is expected to be one of the recommended goals of the Vision 2015 regional visioning project presently under way.

Children, Inc. provides developmental experiences for children in varied settings, partners with families to extend those experiences and collaborates with the community to create opportunities that strengthen all families, according to its mission statement.

Ruggeri said after class that the students grasp what service means. Some of the journal entries they submitted Thursday confirm that:

"I have learned a ton about service," wrote Heather Floyd. "This whole project was about service. I learned that it isn't always about yourself, but most importantly, about others. We have to serve others and in return serve ourselves."

Danielle Cole wrote that she's learned "that you don't need to think of just yourself. What about others!"

"We helped the hurricane victims," wrote Brandon Stamper. "Instead of doing something for yourself, you can help others."

Related Stories:

Community in the Classroom

Glue, Scissors and Sounds