Featured Service Projects

2009 National Geographic Bee Registration

Register your school for the 2009 National Geographic Bee. U.S. schools with students in grades 4–8 are eligible to participate in this annual competition. Schools that register by the deadline of October 15, 2008, will receive all contest materials and information they need in mid-November. Each school contest requires a minimum of six student participants and produces one school winner. That winner then takes a qualifying test to determine the top 100 scoring students in each state who are invited to their state-level contests. The winners of the state contests compete in the national finals in Washington, D.C., in late May.

Nestle Very Best in Youth

Nestlé has been a proud sponsor of the Very Best In Youth program for more than nine years. Created to spotlight the best in youth leadership, the program identifies teens whose efforts are making a profound impact in lives other than their own.

Do you have a friend who is dedicated to academic excellence, a community service project or that you think would like to learn more about the Nestlé Very Best In Youth program? If so, invite them to participate by visiting this website: http://www.nestle-verybestinyouth.com/

“Young people are the future of this country, and it's up to us as adults to see that young people have the tools and resources to make that future bright,” says Kenneth W. Bentley, Nestlé Vice President of Community Affairs/Educational Programs and author of the Nestlé Very Best In Youth book series.

What You Can Win

• Nestlé helps young people who want to make a difference realize their dreams by donating $1,000 in the name of each winner to the charity of his/her choice.
• Nestlé awards the winner a trip for them and a parent or guardian to Los Angeles for the Nestlé Very Best In Youth awards ceremony. The trip includes round trip coach air travel, hotel accommodations for three nights plus spending money.
• Winners are featured in a special publication.
• Each entrant will receive a certificate of achievement from Nestlé and samples of Nestlé products.

Field Museum Museology Course

The 2008-2009 Field Museum Museology Course includes a Service Learning project and certificate through the Office of the Lt. Governor's Cesar Chavez Serve and Learn program. Students create a model exhibition-last years' was highlighted by the Chicago Fair Trade Organization. The article can be seen here: http://www.chicagofairtrade.org/chicago-students-count-beans. For more information, they can contact Johanna Thompson at the Field Museum - 312-665-7506.

Penny Harvest

Common Cents is a not-for-profit organization, which specializes in creating and managing service-learning programs for young people. They are best known for the Penny Harvest program the largest child philanthropy program in the United States. Children between the ages of four and fourteen have been converting their natural compassion for others into action by collecting pennies and turning those pennies into grants for community organizations. Penny Harvest shows young people they have the ability to change the world by introducing them to the power of philanthropy and service during their formative years.

To learn more about Penny Harvest visit http://www.commoncents.org

One World Youth Project

"One World Youth Project’s innovative and fun educational program allows youth to explore and better understand their own community, while at the same time learning about the community of their sister-group overseas". This is a program that could facilitate communication  for middle and high school classrooms in the US/Canada to classrooms overseas.

Find out more about the One World Youth Project

The Field Museum

The Teens @ The Field program allows teens from the Chicago-land area aged 13-19 years old to learn more about the Museum’s core disciplines and gain leadership skills by facilitating live demonstrations and interactive experiences for Museum guests. From guiding dissections of owl pellets to explaining the hieroglyphic writing system of ancient Egyptians, teen volunteers emphasize the diversity of living things and vibrant cultures around the world.

The program has helped young people connect with the global audience The Field Museum attracts every summer, and teens have often registered their service to our guests as the service-learning hours required by their schools, honor societies and other clubs.

North Shore School District

Created Disability Awareness Month for the month of March with over 800 students. Students designed numerous month long activities to combat misperceptions of students living with disabilities. Students put this learning into action and began an ongoing service project with residents at the Center for Enriched Living.

Pathways Community Organization

Studied the civil rights movement, including Cesar Chavez, to construct an oral history of the movement. This oral history was then demonstrated in a "Freedom Quilt", to represent the stories they learned of the movement and to be a part of a freedom memorial.

McKinley Park Elementary

Constructed a 20-by-33-foot replica of Tenochtitlan, the capitol of the Aztec Empire. 100 students from 6th, 7th and 8th grade created this ancient city as it stood in 1520 with the help of their parents and teachers.

Macon County Teen Reach

Launched a service project with the Cesar Chavez service-learning model called "Eight. Beginning a New Season: Health., Hope and Happiness for Illinois youth living with HIV/AIDS" Students implemented a public awareness campaign on HIV/ AIDS with a goal to reach 10,000 students.

Dundee Crown High School

Restored Raceway Woods and the Fox Rover in Carpentersville to ensure that these natural resources will be available for future generations.

Instituto del Progreso Latino

Students participated in neighborhood clean-up; collected non-perishable food items for the Greater Chicago Food Depository during a two week long food drive; performed in an open-mic poetry tribute in honor of Cesar E. Chavez with a college bridge program.

St. Ann Catholic School

5th grade students worked with migrant farm workers from Michigan to learn more about migrant farm work. Student used these lesson to launch a beautification and cultivation project in the community. 

The Park School

A group of special education students embarked upon a school wide food drive for a local school pantry. Students utilized a letter writing and public awareness campaign to get other students involved in the drive.