Endless Summer: Service To Others Projects (1 of 2)
It’s the end of May. If you have school-age children, you have become surrogate teaching assistants since March due to the pandemic induced school closings. Some of you are working remotely; others commuting as essential workers or, sadly, some have lost their job.
As much as you want to be DONE with all this, the great summer void is right around the corner. You have another 10+ weeks of managing their daily routines until a possible return to school in August. Many vacations, time with grandparents, a camp week or two, are out the window. If you have a job to return to and their program established, you are in a solid place. If not, it could be a long summer. Is there something, anything, you can do to help your student be productive during this time? Yes!
This is an ideal opportunity to start a Service To Others (known as an STO) project. Why would you want to do this? Jeannie Burlowski, a college admissions consultant and author of LAUNCH!, writes this:
“Parent, let me give you an eye into the future. When your daughter begins to apply for college scholarships, she’s going to be asked how she has served others. She’s going to be asked how she has used her time and her talents and her energy and her enthusiasm to make the world a better place, starting in her local area.
If her answer is that she has not had time for that, that all her energies have been spent heaping the resources of the world on herself, that is not going to be impressive in the least to a college scholarship committee. Even if she has a 4.3 GPA on a 4.0 scale, the scholarships will go to others.
However, if she can write convincingly, and if she has a strong record of committed service over time to people or causes she genuinely cares about-even if her grades are lower- she will likely rise quickly to the top of any group of scholarship applicants.”
Your student should start their STO in Middle or Junior High School. Why? Because if chosen well and done right, a Service To Others project started in the 7th grade can be expanded each year. This shows leadership development and increased impact and outreach. How you guide your student in their STO project might be worth $10,000 to $40,000 or more in scholarship awards. Interested? Keep reading and take notes.
Before we go on- a word to the wise. Parents- your role is as a resource consultant. Do NOT get caught up in this. It must be their project. You help with resources and guidance; they carry the project to completion. You help keep their project away from the ditch.
This week’s blog is geared towards Middle or Junior high school students. Next week’s blog will focus on Senior High School STO’s.
Are there any service project models or systems out there, you may ask? Of course! The Girl Scouts have a Silver award available to 6-8th grade scouts who complete the program requirements. You will find their Silver Award guidebook for Cadettes online which can be easily downloaded. The guidebook does just that- walks you through the process.
In a nutshell here’s a 7-10 week-by-week plan your student should use to execute THEIR Service To Others Project.
(1-2 weeks) Identify issues they care about, narrowing it down to the one they will do. Using the classic journalism questions of who, what, when, where, and why will solidify the project’s objectives.
(1-2 weeks) Explore your community & discover resources. Your kid may want to help save sea turtles, but if you are deeply inland, that may be hard to develop. Think local and serve locally.
(1 week) Develop a team. Friends can expand the reach and results of this project immensely. Be sure you have the commitment of their parent(s) to support this project by making their own kid available when needed. You may need to return the favor.
(1 week) Write out a project plan. This is where you determine the goals, the needed resources, how to raise money for those resources, create a project budget, and identify helper roles. Look up the term “SMART goals” online to clarify the details of each part of the plan. Remember, parents- you don’t DO the project. You are the project consultant. You don’t do the work, you guide it.
(2-3 weeks) Execute the plan. Part of that work is coming up against roadblocks, resolving problems, and driving towards the identified goals. Teach them this. Adapt. Adopt. Overcome.
(1 week) Evaluate the project. Write a CLOSING report. (you will need it later for scholarship applications!) Did it meet objectives? What were some problems? How did you overcome them? What can you do better in the future? How can you expand your outreach in the future?
There are so many needs in every community. A few ideas might include: Make homemade cards for shut-ins in nursing homes; plan and lead neighborhood food drives for children in food deserts; build homemade bee homes for endangered bees. The key is to help your student find their passion and guide them in executing a great Service To Others project this summer.
Until next time,
All my best,
Bonnie Burkett
