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How to Join In
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Calling All KAT Students!
Introduce yourself and share your experiences with KAT! From Leronda Williams, Many issues surfaced as we searched for topics for our service learning project last year. Our theme evolved as peace, non-violence and justice. Although we completed a project last year, my class decided to extend the project this year because of its importance.
We realized that there was increased violence among youth, including our school. Knowing that violence is never the answer we set forth to do something about it. We looked for information on the Internet and in newspapers about what causes violence among young people. We invited speakers to come in and talk to us about their experience with youth violence and asked them the best ways to prevent it. From these experiences, the class invited someone to come in to our classroom and teach us conflict resolutions skills. We then wrote children’s books on this subject.
We focused on communication skills, especially writing, because we knew that we could not effectively get across our message otherwise. Each student wrote to our City Council President, enlisting her help for our project. She sent an attorney who works in her office to come and talk to my class about the justice system and how we, as young people, can make a difference.
Currently, as eighth graders, we are researching the judicial system in the nation, our state, and our city. We will be visiting a local judge so our knowledge in this area will be expanded even further. At no time in our nation’s history is it more important for us to be reminded of the principles upon which our country was founded.
In conclusion, our service learning project has pushed us to become the best students and citizens we can be. By combining academics and service, I know we have made a difference and will continue to do so.
From Olivia Nieves and Brittany Sedlak, West Creek Hills Elementary
School, East Pennsboro Area School District, PA Kids Around Town is a project the third graders do every year. It helps our community in many ways, such as picking up trash and making beautiful banners to hang around our town. From the help of Mr. Gill [township manager] and the township members we can make a town beautiful. We didn’t just help our community by picking up trash and making banners. We also planted flowers, made speeches, and posters, too. Have you ever been to Imagination Station? Well Kids Around Town did that too! Third graders put hard effort into each project. You feel very good when you help out, and you may think it’s just working, but it’s not. It’s fun! You can do it with your friends or by yourself, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be in Kids Around Town to help your community be a better place. But Kids Around Town is a fun way to do it!
From Joseph Maiorano, 8th grade, Thomas Middle School in Philadelphia
School District
I am a more informed citizen now because I know what’s going on around me and not just what’s happening in my neighborhood. It is because of the work I have done for my service learning project that I can say this.
We did a variety of things for our service learning project. We read books about the racism, learning from the examples of Anne Frank and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. People can be cruel to others, so I must try to stop this hatred when I encounter it in my own life. It’s wrong to take the life of another human being for any reason. I don’t understand how anyone can feel so much anger in him that he would hurt another person.
Anne Frank taught me that I must accept others who have different religious beliefs than me. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught me that I must accept people who come from different cultural backgrounds than my own. We sponsored a “Day of Peace” in Dr. King’s honor on January 15, his birthday. All members of the school community were encouraged to be kind to each other and live the “Golden Rule” that is, to do unto others that you would want done to you.
Last spring, we sponsored a Peace Fair in the school where all classes visited and signed a pledge to be a peacemaker as well as become part of a friendship chain. All of the members of my class took part in preparing for the fair and still others were involved in face painting where kids could get their faces painted with symbols of peace.
I am a better citizen of my school community as well as the larger community because of service learning. In order to promote peace and non-violence, I had to learn about the racism and intolerance that exists in our world. Now, I feel capable to go out and make a difference. From Kevin Emery, 8th grade, Thomas Middle School in Philadelphia School District
Service learning helps students not only learn academics, but how to be good citizens as well. Our project, focusing on peace, non-violence, and justice taught me that our education should be used to help others.
First, I’d like to discuss some of the things we did. Last year, we studied the Holocaust and visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C. Through this experience, we learned the horrors the Jewish people had to endure in Europe during World War II. In addition, we learned about problems of racism in our own country, reading about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. We furthered our knowledge this year as we read the drama, “The Diary of Anne Frank”, and studied the Constitution of the United States and how it protects the rights of all citizens. Next, I’d like to talk about what I’ve learned from this project. Because of this experience, I now understand how important it is to help other people both in our local community as well as the world community. Not only am I more informed about government, I’m more aware of what is going on in the world.
Finally, it is critical to point out that everyone should take an active role in the community. Now it is needed more than ever in our country and in our world. Through the process, we can learn about each other and ourselves.
Definitely, I cannot emphasize enough how much I have learned because of our service learning project. I hope that I can share my experiences with others so that they can understand their roles as good citizens. From Scottie Lewis, age 9 Regarding the flower barrel project: I liked the part where
I got to stand in front of the commissioners and talk. I messed up
a little bit but nobody seemed to mind. They all thought it was funny.
I thought it was funny too. It was also fun planting the flowers.
We got to play on the playground when we were done. It was neat coming
back from 3 weeks of vacation and seeing these beautiful flower barrels
everywhere. It was good exercise walking down to my family's barrel
to water it. It was fun when mom let me and my little brother walk
by ourselves to water it. I learned that it can be fun to do stuff
for the community. I never thought planting flowers would be fun,
but I guess it is. I hope the school keeps doing the barrel project
because it makes our town look very pretty. When the old flowers die,
we'll be able to replace them in the spring if we keep up with the
project." From Kim Butler, Bala Cynwyd Middle School in Bala Cynwyd PA.
We've come up with a definition: violence is any form of physical, mental, verbal, or sexual abuse with the intention to humiliate or intimidate the personal space of a person or thing. We researched and researched to make sure we had enough facts to really understand violence. Here are a few, by the time an average person is 18, they will have watched 20,000 hours of violence on TV alone. And 19% of students report being hit, slapped, or shoved by another student. On April 10th 2000 Team 7-2 will be traveling to Harrisburg to try
to persuade the House of Representatives to make this day School Violence
awareness and prevention day. REMEMBER: TURN DOWN THE VIOLENCE, PUMP
UP THE PEACE! " |
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| Kids Around Town LWVPA-CEF 226 Forster Street Harrisburg, PA 17102 717-234-1576 or in PA 800-692-7281 annrappoport@comcast.net |
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