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The
plants and flowers grow, the students grow. What's not to love?
This
is the basis of Children Inc.'s Service Learning school project,
in which Northern Kentucky students take their classroom lessons
and apply them to community service.
Consider two events last week.
Thirteen students at St. Thomas School in Fort Thomas spent
several hours in the flower beds at a local bank, implementing
the math-calculated designs they had been working on for two
weeks.
Twelve
students from Holmes High School in Covington helped pre-schoolers
at the James Biggs Early Childhood Education Center in Covington
install plants around their playground.
All in
a day's school work.
More
than 8,000 students from 50 schools in Northern Kentucky public
and parochial have participated in the Service Learning program
through the Covington-based Children Inc. social-service agency
Students in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties conducted a wide
range of projects throughout the school year, several hundred in
all, including literacy initiatives that improve reading,
donation drives that improve math skills, and garden plantings
that cross the bridge between math and science.
"It's
an exchange where they're able to do something for someone
else," social worker Bruce Hill said as students from Holmes'
alternative school traded shovels and sweat equity with kids
half, or a third, their age. "It's a win-win."
Natasha Ison, a Holmes freshman, was matched up with 4-year-old
Mi'Angel Ward.
"It's
fun working with the little kids," Natasha said, "talking to
them and getting to know them."
"That's a shovel," Mi'Angel blurted out correctly.
In
Fort Thomas, the St. Thomas students learned the math equations
necessary to map out their planting area at the Fifth-Third Bank
on North Thomas Avenue, given the shape and size of the beds.
They
did online research on which plants could go where, which need
sun, which need shade, how tall each grows, and the spacing
required based on each plant's needs.
Then
they drew a model to perfect scale. Throughout, they calculated
their budget of $250 and actually came in at $185, with an
assist from Lowe's.
And
perhaps the most enduring lesson: teamwork.
"It
feels really good, better than sitting in a shabby ol'
classroom," seventh-grader Jill Wagner said as dirt graced her
hands and sunshine bathed the bank parking lot.
"They
learn so many things," said Mary Kay Connolly, Children Inc.'s
Service Learning Coordinator. "It's cognitively challenging, it
teaches interpersonal skills, you see them dealing with
real-world problems and practicing problem-solving. You see them
feeling a sense of accomplishment."
It's
been a typical busy couple of weeks. Fourth-graders at St.
Therese in Southgate completed a PowerPoint presentation on the
city's ongoing centennial celebration, having researched the
city's history with a local historian, while the school's
sixth-graders collected gently used books for National Literacy
Week.
Boone
is new to the Children Inc. program but has been doing similar
work through other avenues. Kenton and Campbell schools have
been at it for years.
It's
also reached the high-school level, with Campbell County High
and the Holmes alternative school now participating.
Connolly hopes to expand the program to include more high
schools and also colleges.
"Absolutely, actually we're hoping NKU builds on this," she
said. "There's communication to introduce service learning as an
elective."
She's
involved Thomas More College and Gateway Community and Technical
College, too. The University of Cincinnati has a similar program
on its own.
She
loves the idea that some young child involved today will
continue through high school and college, then participate in
some way as an adult.
"Every
child," Connolly said, "realizes they have something to give
back."
The
recipients of the St. Thomas students' efforts were Fifth-Third
Bank and its customers.
"We're
really grateful because we get our landscaping done and be
involved in the community," customer service manager Kristen
Hillner explained. "We bought them lunch (at Subway). So it was
a great deal for us."
St. Thomas
math teacher Jennifer Ullrey supervised. She made sure the
students knew that the clematis plants grow tall so had to be
against the building, and that the blue and white hastas need
more sunlight.
They
knew that because they'd studied what Ullrey called "the science
of sunshine."
The
students chose a blue and white theme because St. Thomas, for
the first time this year, was honored with a Blue Ribbon
designation by the state.
"To
me, it's always more fun to see the kids involved in their
work," Ullrey said, "and the more exploratory, the more they
understand the concepts."
Though
plant and sun factors delve a little more into the subject of
science that she doesn't teach, Ullrey pointed out that of the
entire project, "nothing is non-math."
Connolly, of Children Inc., put it this way: "It's not the facts
that change our lives, it's what we do with them."
Sixth-grader Christian Graff, wearing a Ken Griffey Reds
T-shirt, spoke about parameters and area calculations.
"And I
love gardening," he said, "just seeing how things grow."
Teachers love to see things grow, too: their students. |
