Burnsville, Northfield schools offer hands-on ways to learn citizenship

Ryan Below didn't know what he was getting into.

The 18-year-old senior at Burnsville High School signed up for the Public Affairs class this semester because the teacher told him it would be cool. Once he saw what it was going to be, he tried to drop it, thinking he didn't have time for the work.

Now, he likes it. (And he's not just saying that for a good grade.)

"Our grade in this class is all based on participation," Below said. "You can't make up work if you're gone. That's the same for life. You have to participate if you're going to make a difference."

Burnsville High School's Public Affairs class is a service-learning course in which seniors volunteer in the community and help put on events for a variety of causes each semester. The same is true for Northfield High School's Service Learning class, where students find their own ways to volunteer.

Across the metro area, even as schools have focused more on the basics of math and reading, service learning has caught on as a popular avenue for high school students to reach out to their communities.

"I think that our society as a whole is realizing the importance of service and the importance of volunteering, the importance of caring for the common good," said Sarah Swan McDonald, a service learning coordinator in the Northfield School District and a Northfield High School social studies teacher. "I believe we have a generation of young people that want to do good."

Figuring it out themselves

Minnesota does not have a requirement for how many hours students must participate in service-learning throughout the school year, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Service learning can take place in dedicated classes, as in Burnsville and Northfield, or can be integrated into the daily curriculum of other classes, Swan McDonald said.

In Burnsville's case, students this semester are helping organize events at elementary schools for the American Diabetes Association. Some schools are doing fundraising walks, others are having assemblies and information drives, and others are urging families to eat at some local restaurants on Monday because proceeds will go to the group.

"There comes a point where everybody in this class realizes that no one is going to tell you what to do," said 17-year-old Jessica Spevak, "You just have to figure it out. And that's when you start enjoying the class."

A fleet of orange bicycles

At Northfield High School, students learn about the idea of service and what it means, and they talk to locals involved in it. Then they pick out projects that they think they're best suited for -- like an avid artist who is helping elementary school students decorate canvas bags to use at the grocery store in lieu of plastic.

There's also a group of students creating a city-wide fleet of orange bicycles. If someone needs to use one, they can just hop on and leave the bike in a public place later on.

Charities in Northfield are also paying for Swan McDonald to work helping other teachers figure out how to integrate service learning into more traditional classes.

"One of the really exciting things about this class is every group of students is so unique in terms of their life experiences," Swan McDonald said, "so no two projects are alike."

Emily Johns • 952-882-9056