Community Service: Student Club Involves Parents
PTO Today's 2007 Parent Group of the Year for Outstanding Community Service Project had students teaching each other—and helping others in the community—through monthly events all year long.
The Torrey Pines Elementary School Education Foundation formed a service club for students at the La Jolla, Calif., school and organized monthly projects. Activities included painting over urban graffiti, creating activity bags for patients at a children’s hospital, running a food drive, and helping repair nesting sites for an endangered bird species. They also sought to have the children teach each other about community service.
What the judges loved: It was educational and broadening for students, it encouraged involvement by having parents and students work together, and it continued throughout the year.
Cool fact: The projects got student leaders excited. Then student leaders got their fellow students excited, who communicated that excitement to their parents. The result was much broader participation than expected.
