Service Learning Roars into Schools in New Ways
Volunteer service can educate and connect in far-reaching ways, says retired colonel Christopher Holshek. Education experts explain what works.
How then German chancellor Helmut Kohl recalled first encountering a banana after World War II is a story that retired Colonel Christopher Holshek likes to tell when explaining the role of community service. At a military gathering in Germany in 1985, Holshek was having a picnic lunch with Kohl, showing him how to eat U.S. MREs–packaged meals ready-to-eat. The MREs, said Kohl, reminded him of his first encounter with American G.I.s when they came through Germany after the Germans’ defeat in World War II.
“His first memory of American G.I.s was that they brought food to town, and he had his first banana,” said Holshek. “The Nazis had warned that the Americans would eat German children, but the Germans were on the brink of starvation and saw the Americans’ generosity. The U.S. had among the first conquering armies in history not to rampantly rape, pillage and plunder.”
Rather than humiliate Germans, which had led to Hitler’s rise after World War I, the Americans helped Germany recover, leading to a lasting alliance. Kindness furthers, Holshek asserts. He sees the social cohesion that service creates as conducive to both civic and individual strengths.
“Kindness can be a game-changer for self-actualization,” he said.
As a retired Army Civil Affairs colonel, he has, among other roles, that of senior civil-military advisor for a NATO project to develop “resilient civilians.” Convinced that people’s resilience is strengthened by community service, he promotes it with the National Service Ride project he founded, led by veterans in collaboration with Michael Bark, Orange County Youth Bureau program coordinator, to help schools enhance their service-learning curricula.
“Being kind is a service. It makes you feel good and creates connection. It’s democratizing,” Holshek says. “But the context of service learning is critical. It has to be part of a curriculum strategy.”
Since 2021, Holshek and his cohorts have been visiting school districts in the region. They first introduce the program to parent and teacher organizations, school boards and administrators and other community groups. Once their support is established, Holshek brings the service concept to elementary school classes and organizes a high school assembly to promote it. Then, at a volunteer fair, students can find service opportunities that suit their interests and needs.
At a Rotary Club meeting, Holshek had encountered Tom Reilly, a cross content teacher at George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo. Reilly’s enthusiasm helped launch the venture in Tuxedo schools, as Holshek and Bark did presentations for parent and teacher organizations and the school board.
So on a recent day, Holshek and three other veterans roared into the parking lot of the high school on motorcycles, a way of revving up interest. Then he took the stage in the auditorium and told students: “We want to have a conversation about service.”
He asked the audience for examples of service they performed. Examples given ranged from picking up trash to “spontaneous acts of kindness.”
“Living a life of service is an addiction, a good kind of addiction,” said Holshek. He compared the feeling to that of a dollop of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter, also prompted by getting a like on social media. “Service is dopamine on steroids. You feel good about yourself. You can’t find your identity in your phone. You find it out here.”
Then both adults and students took turns on stage telling the audience about their volunteer activities, a part of all the National Service Ride assemblies, to give students examples of service by familiar adults and peers. A school resource officer talked about delivering a baby and locking up a domestic violence perpetrator. School principal Roy Reese talked about his dogs.
“There’s nothing better than watching your faces when my therapy dogs see compassion in your eyes. It makes their day,” he said.
Julianna Scanlon, a student, said that being a firehouse and ambulance service member “feels good.” Frank DeGennaro said he joined the fire department after he saw the shortage of firefighter help when a neighbor’s house burned down.
“You can do the right thing when you see someone struggling,” said Holshek and asked for other examples of service.
A girl stood up by her seat and laughed, “When my friends are hungry I buy them lunch.”
Holshek noted how community service develops job skills, such as learning to work as part of a team and doesn’t require a high grade point average, “just courage, humility and compassion.”
After the assembly, a few students already doing volunteer work gathered to tell a reporter about their experiences and plans. Giving credence to Holshek’s claim that service is “addictive,” they said they plan to continue. Research also indicates that early community service is predictive of other kinds of civic participation, such as voting, according to a 2007 study in the American Educational Research Journal.
Juliana Scanlon had joined both Tuxedo Fire Department and Tuxedo Ambulance when she was 16. She had also done volunteer work with the school and its honor society—cleanups, food drives and other events. Why?
“I have a big heart for people,” she said, explaining that the feeling grew from her experience helping her family when her grandmother died. She plans to study criminal justice and also, after her freshman year in college, take the Emergency Medical Technician training at Ramapo College.
Frank DeGennaro, 18, was 13 when he watched his neighbor’s house burn down and noticed the sparsity of firefighters who showed up.
“It took a long time to get help there,” DeGennaro said. “The woman who lived in the house died a few days later. Ambulances and fire departments always need more volunteers.”
At his age and level of expertise, he has gone to the door, and occasionally a few feet into a building on fire. He plans to continue firefighter training, in addition to attending college to learn construction management.
Dayanara Vasquez, 17, attends the Ramapo Police Youth Academy, as does Juliana Scanlon.
“We learn about abuse and rape and how to help injured people while waiting for First Responders to arrive,” said Vasquez. “It made me realize the sad things people go through.”
Also introducing himself was Michael Bark, who described the role of Orange County Youth Bureau in supporting youth programs, such as those for work readiness and bullying prevention. He would be back in a few weeks for the volunteer fair that follows the assembly. The Youth Bureau will also provide an online portal where students can find volunteer opportunities that meet their interests and needs and keep track of their hours participating.
Experts Explain Service Learning Essentials
According to research by Cornell social psychologist Daryl Bem, not only is what people do influenced by their feelings about themselves, but also, what people do influences their sense of themselves. So doing volunteer work shapes how students see themselves. But volunteering takes many forms in schools and is incorporated with school curriculum to varying extents that determine its influence.
“If students lack understanding of why they do a service, there’s no interest,” said Holshek.
An expert on school strategies for service learning is Marvin Berkowitz, Sanford N. McDonnell Endowed Professor of Character Education and Co-Director of the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. When reached by phone this week, he had just been awarded a prize for his new book, PRIMED for Character Education: Six Design Principles for School Improvement.
He sees service learning as a continuum from the student’s role as “mule”—for instance, delivering canned food—to service that dovetails with academic work. In the middle is service deepened by reflection, so students learn about themselves and others. Optimally, service involves relationships with the people served, developing a sense of competence and autonomy and developing a deeper understanding of course work.
Teacher Tom Reilly described the Tuxedo approach as both a part of the school day and beyond it.
“The majority of our students are involved in school-based clubs and organizations that require volunteer hours throughout the year,” he said. “For example, opportunities such as donating food to the local food bank, volunteering at local fire and ambulance houses, writing and coloring letters to veterans and first responders and volunteering at a local assisted living residence.”
A recent 12th grade government class project was an exercise of their First Amendment right to petition, in this case to change what was served for breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria. They researched student preferences and presented their findings and requests to the superintendent and school board. At an upcoming community fair, they will be required to ask presenters questions and write down their responses to build their speaking, listening, and critical thinking skills, on the way to fulfilling requirements for the New York State Civic Literacy Seal.
“This sounds really good,” said Berkowitz. “It’s real issues, tied to the curriculum, with a democratic process. But who chose the food topic, kids or administrators? How are things chosen? That’s a fundamental principle of character development. Children choosing is empowerment for the fundamental need of autonomy.”
As for kindness, he asks, how will decisions be made about who should be the object of kindness? Would that include terrorists and child predators?
“Outcome goals need to be articulated,” said Berkowitz.
The components of well-designed service learning that benefits academic achievement, civic engagement and character development were summarized, based on research, by Amy Cohen, executive director of George Washington University Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service.
Integration with the curriculum is one key factor, she said. Another is “meaningfulness,” connecting the issue addressed with the student’s personal life. Reflection, whether discussing the service or thinking and writing about it through course work, is pivotal too.
“They don’t just do the service. They learn about the context,” said Cohen.
For instance, if the service is checking a neighborhood for wheelchair accessibility, that can lead to deeper questions. How did the street get there? Who governs it and how are decisions made? Who takes care of the community? How are they selected or elected?
“For a college student, in a semester, one to two hours of service a week connected to academics makes a big difference,” she said of service learning’s measurable benefits in academics and character development. For younger students, the time needed would be less. She has been working to get service learning funding for Americorps.
Meanwhile, Holshek has conveyed his goals for the National Service Ride effort to NATO:
“From a security and stability perspective, civic engagement and community service is a form of civil defense,” he wrote in an article for NATO.
He aims to continue expanding the area where he and his cohorts roar into school parking lots on motorcycles with this mission.
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