Wallenberg High School
Q: How long has Wallenberg had a community service program? When did it start?
Wallenberg’s program started when the school opened – it has been around as long as the school has. Interestingly, it started as a 40-hour service requirement for graduation. About seven years ago, students themselves felt that it was so important, THEY voted to increase the requirement to 100 hours.
Q: What are the key components of the program?
We’ve focused on getting students to do community service in the 11th and 12th grades. It’s not tightly structured. They are required to do 100 hours. Over the years we built a binder of nonprofit agencies where our students had previous experiences. Our guidance counselors and other teachers steer students to use that binder or find opportunities through friends and family. The connection between the school and a nonprofit agency is far less important than the connection a student makes with the agency. The Volunteer Match tool will be more powerful than our 700-800 page binder for several reasons: 1) there will be more opportunities for students to find something that interests them; 2) it will be easier for us to track hours and experiences with nonprofit agencies.
At the start of their 11th grade year, students are provided with guidelines and protocols on volunteering in their US History classes. Tracking of the hours is coordinated by their 12th grade American Democracy teachers in cooperation with the counselors.
All of our students are required to do a presentation in 12th grade in an America Democracy course. The presentation, which includes a write-up and pictures, is based on their volunteer experiences.
Q: What’s been the greatest success of the program?
The most powerful thing that we’ve noticed are the stories that students tell. It’s striking to see how powerful the experiences are for them. In addition to these stories, it’s remarkable what a giant impact our small school has had on the community. Some students have put in over 500 hours of service. Collectively, students have delivered over 17,000 hours of service in the past few years.
Q: What have been the biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge is the teaching staff who value service to a different degree. There is some inconsistency from classroom to classroom. In addition, the logistics and coordination are difficult (tracking hundreds of opportunities and students).
Q: What advice would you give to others trying to start out a program?
Programs are driven by people; when you have great staff who get behind it, the program will be a success. It’s their hard work that build the culture and make service an important part of public school experience.