Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Some 200 Girl Scouts representing 22 Saratoga troops devoted their energies to cleaning up Saratoga's Wildwood and El Quito parks after school on April 7. Here, some of the girls paint park equipment.
Generation Next
Today's young people are turning outward and finding empowerment through volunteerism
By Sandy Sims
For the first time in many years--maybe since the 1960s--young people became politically active when they mobilized this year against Proposition 21. This fledgling effort may signal a small shift in the political heart of our youth--a shift from apathy and cynicism to the belief they actually can make a difference. And this change of heart is most likely a direct result of youth volunteerism.
While cynicism about government is rampant among America's youth, voting age participation in national elections has dropped from two-thirds in 1960 to one-third today, even though the minimum vote age dropped to 18 in 1971. What's more, according to Brian O'Connell, professor of public service in the Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affairs at Tufts University, voters aged 18 to 34 are the least involved.
At the same time, the number of young community volunteers has increased. They are receiving awards from local and national government, and community service is becoming an integral part of class work. And agencies are scrambling to provide places for them to serve.
These youngsters are, in fact, becoming part of our infrastructure.
Lori Burns, personnel officer and volunteer coordinator for the city of Saratoga, says she doesn't know what she would do without the 50 or so youth volunteers who help the city every year. One Saratoga High School student set up an Excel database for Burns' office; another showed Burns how to use "mail merge" on the word processor. "Before that we used to address form letters individually," Burns says.
These young volunteers work on projects such as sanding and painting park benches and tables, filling sand bags for flood control or cleaning recreation equipment. Boy Scouts have landscaped the front of the Saratoga senior center. On April 7, about 200 Girl scouts cleaned and weeded two Saratoga parks.
Youngsters sort and hand out food for the homeless, create Christmas for those who wouldn't otherwise have one. They cheer the elderly and help in hospitals and veterinary offices, and they paint over graffiti. The list is endless.
Burns says overall volunteers in Saratoga have decreased since the elimination of a part-time volunteer coordinator position. However, youth volunteers have remained constant.
Countywide, adult volunteer numbers have declined slightly, but youth volunteer numbers are rising dramatically. The numbers have risen so much that in 1998 the Volunteer Exchange of Santa Clara County added a youth volunteer arm to its organization and headed by its own full-time coordinator.
This focus on youth volunteerism is not happenstance. It's part of a bigger picture.
According to Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America, a national nonprofit umbrella agency supporting youth volunteerism, in 1979 communities became alarmed when a U.S. News and World Report article spotlighted the apathy of young people. The article and the growing me-focus of these baby boomers served as a wake-up call to activists such as John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, and his friend Brian O'Connell. O'Connell is Tufts University professor and author of Civic Society: the Underpinnings of American Democracy (University Press of New England).
"Democracy is dependent on citizens being involved," O'Connell said in a telephone interview. "We were concerned about the future of the U.S. democracy." Gardner, O'Connell and hundreds of activists began an organized crusade called Independent Sector to raise public awareness about the importance of civic involvement. Psychiatrist Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled , added his voice as did others. And in the 1980s youth community involvement began to grow.
But the thrust of civic involvement has mainly been volunteerism. And most of the big-hitters have supported that focus--President Bush's thousand points of light, President Clinton's Americorps, Colin Powell's America's Promise (a volunteer program dedicated to helping America's young people).
"What we eventually realized," O'Connell says, "is that education is at the heart of good citizenship," the idea on which, O'Connell says, Thomas Jefferson hung his argument for public education. Jefferson meant all citizens could participate effectively in a democracy if they were educated. Today, O'Connell and others are suggesting that public education needs to emphasize community service.
However, the old civics classes are long gone, abandoned about 30 years ago. The question? How do we get civic education back in schools?
There was, it turned out, a model already in place.
Private schools such as Saratoga's St. Andrews, Bellarmine College Preparatory and Harker Academy have for years required students to complete community service hours. Some public school districts copied this model. San Jose Unified School District now requires 40 hours of community service for graduation. Other districts, including the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School district, concluded that a requirement would mean students might just put in hours without reflecting on what they were doing, and opted against mandatory community service .
Required or not, the climate for volunteering is strong in schools. Campus clubs are incorporating service in their activities. Rotary and Kiwanis youth clubs have stepped up volunteer activities. College entrance boards give considerable weight to community service.
Students who volunteer for 50 or 100 hours in a 12-month period may also receive a silver or gold pin, a presidential certificate, and a letter the President. And each high school in the country may select one junior or senior volunteer to receive a President's Scholarship. However, the President's $500 must be matched by $500 from the community.
Volunteering has even become an in-thing among the high school set. Last October, for instance, 150 high school students from all over the county, including Saratoga and Los Gatos high schools, showed up at James Lick High School. They repainted all the planter boxes and planted 500 shrubs.
Educators have taken volunteerism a step further. They are weaving community service together with an old educational concept called experiential learning--students learn better through hands-on experience. This old concept with a new twist has been dubbed "service learning."
Now there are national, state and local conferences on service learning. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin set up a special task force for the purpose of "linking classrooms and communities." By the year 2004, she wants 50 percent of California school districts to offer all students at least one service learning opportunity at each grade span (K-5, 6-8, 9-12).
San Jose State University has received a $1 million grant for Project Service Learning California, a program for college students who want to teach in high-need schools. These future teachers will volunteer in real settings, Eastfield Ming Quong for instance, where they can improve skills for working with children with emotional problems.
According to federal guidelines, service learning follows these tenets: it meets the needs of the community, it enhances academic curriculum, helps foster civic responsibility and provides time for students to reflect on the service experience.
Service learning can also be individualized. For example, one fifth-grade teacher had an English-as-a-second-language student reading on a second-grade level. Instead of making him read in front of the class, the teacher paired him up with a second grader as a tutor (study buddy). By helping the second grader, the fifth grader's reading and self-esteem improved.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Argonaut School second-graders (from left) Madison Matusich, Alicia Blalock and Michael Wang handle the money drawer at the lemonade stand where the class sold fresh-squeezed lemonade last week to help raise money for a new dishwasher for the school. The students want the dishwasher so disposable Styrofoam trays now used in the cafeteria can be replaced with washable plastic trays, which students believe will be better for the environment.
Ann Haggerty, a former SHS teacher, now coordinator for educational services for the LG-SJUHSD, says the district had service learning in their long-range plan in 1994 but no funding. With this wave of support for student volunteerism, plans are being rekindled but there is still a need for funding. "We want a service-learning coordinator at each campus," Haggerty says.
In fact, the district is trying to arrange a release period for LGHS English instructor Tonya Silva to coordinate service learning and community service at LGHS. "Los Gatos High has a lot of community volunteering, but it doesn't have a lot of teachers doing service learning," Silva says.
Silva has used service learning in her English classes for six years. Each student chooses to focus on a specific group, such as elderly, homeless, sick, or physically or mentally challenged.
First, a student writes about the prejudices that might exist for the group he or she chose and what other problems exist for people in that population. Then the student finds three articles to read on the subject. The next step involves actual volunteer time "With 80 students a year, that adds up to 500 hours of community service annually," Silva says.
After volunteering, Silva's students reflect on and write an essay about their experience. The final part of the program is a community action step--a letter to a government official suggesting ways to improve life for the people with whom the student has been involved. One student, for instance, suggested that the Special Olympics train at LGHS. Another made suggestions for better wheel-chair access at the school. "It means a lot when they get letters back," Silva says. Last month 10 of Silva's students wrote to the mayor of Los Gatos. "Mostly concerning the homeless," she says.
Judy Ennis didn't know she wanted to go into social services until she took Tonya Silva's English class. She worked at Loaves and Fishes where she helped serve hot meals to those in need and at the San Jose Family Living Center for a day. There she used her Spanish with the children as she helped them prepare a meal and clean toys.
She wrote a letter to President Clinton asking for more outreach programs and halfway houses so homeless children could have more stability. She says she is aware now of the need for affordable housing.
Ennis has decided that being required to volunteer is a good thing. "You don't just say out of the blue, 'Hey, I'm going to clean toys at a homeless shelter.'" Research backs her up. Students who are told by parents, schools, or community that they must volunteer report back that they didn't know they could be so useful. They like meeting people who are different, and it makes them feel good about themselves.
Randy West says he found out homeless people "aren't like they are portrayed to be." He wrote a letter to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer to ask for more funding for homeless programs. He says homeless shelters turn down people every night. "It's really sad. I hope I'll contribute to getting them off the streets some day."
Corine Milano, carried out her assignment for Silva's English class at Rolling Hills Middle School. Milano volunteered in a severely handicapped special day class.
"I was nervous and didn't know what to expect." Milano says. "I got to see people who are normally segregated from the rest of us," she says. "I loved it."
"This program is 98 percent positive," Silva says. She recalls one student's transformation. The girl volunteered to work with the elderly. She wound up under a table, calling her mother to come and get her. The next week she returned, had a change of heart and signed up for an additional two weeks. Two of Silva's students who were failing the class were wonderful volunteers. "In that setting, the other students looked up to them," Silva says.
Volunteering is a bad experience when the students feel used. Silva recalls one student who wound up cutting up potatoes for hours.
Nicky Ozer, youth service coordinator for Volunteer Exchange, a clearinghouse for volunteers, says volunteering is very practical, too. Students learn marketable skills. They learn leadership, how to talk on the phone, organize and write, and about technology, people skills and more.
The 15 high school students who volunteer for her office researched, designed and put together a Youth Service Guide booklet of 330 nonprofit agencies that can use youth volunteers. Students who don't do well in school can be outstanding volunteers. "These kids need to be part of the bigger picture," Ozer says.
Volunteer Exchange holds a Youth Summit each year. This year 350 students will meet to share what they do in the community. Recently, the Volunteer Exchange held a mini-youth summit at A Place for Teens in Los Gatos. The whole group went to Saratoga Springs and took the ropes course as a way of learning to work together. At another training session the students learned the three venues for addressing community issues: volunteerism, media and public officials.
Ozer says it's important for agencies who use these young volunteers to prepare for them, to ensure the work is a good fit for the volunteer, to create time to manage the young person and to find them interesting work to do--not just sorting envelopes for bulk mail.
Youth Service America's Steve Culbertson says, "What's really exciting is kids are starting their own volunteer organizations." YSA currently funds four such programs.
One of them, the nonprofit agency Kids Cheering Kids, was started by 7-year-old Los Gatan John Holland-McGowan's. John's efforts to reach out to children who need a friend was the genesis of KCK. An article in Parade magazine prompted new KCK chapters around the Bay Area.
Another young man, Eric Dawson, a 19-year-old college student in Boston, created a curriculum called Peace Games, a conflict-resolution program for children. He organized 300 college students to teach the curriculum in Boston schools.
Those working directly with young people are noticing a change.
"Young people are realizing the importance of being involved," said Kate Teague of Social Advocates for Youth, a Santa Clara County organization. Students who used to say, "what's the point," are registering to vote. They're getting pro-active. Teague says one of the teenagers she works with actually went out and found community services for a friend. "Instead of calling me, she did it herself."
Teague says the young people who protested Proposition 21 were disappointed that it passed, but they saw tangible results for their effort. After their protest in front of PG&E in San Jose and San Francisco, the utility company withdrew its support from the proposition. The youngsters also noticed that Proposition 21 lost in San Jose, Berkeley and other areas where they had set up information pickets.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
