Northwest Herald Story

CL South students reflect on service learning
By BRETT ROWLAND - browland@nwherald.com

CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake South High School students looked back on a second year of service learning projects Wednesday.

The school’s nearly 2,000 students participated in 42 projects that combined classroom learning with community service. It is one of a few schools in the country that requires all students to participate in such projects, Principal Marsha Potthoff said. “The teachers and students really designed projects that connected real world service to what they were learning in the classroom,” she said.

Service learning projects brought South students to local nursing homes, elementary schools, food pantries, animal shelters and blood banks, among other places. One math class created a tutoring center for other students, another held a family math night, and a third designed math games for local fourth-grade students. Other groups encouraged people to vote, looked at trends at area food banks, and helped raise money for specific causes.

On Wednesday, students reflected on what they learned and the overall effect of the 42 projects. They also heard from motivational speakers and some of those who had been helped. “You all have impacted about 750 lives,” Michelle Dodd, a marketing representative for Heartland Blood Centers in Crystal Lake, told students at an assembly. She added that the blood donated by students benefited recipients as well as their friends and family members. Kara Plonczynski, volunteer coordinator for McHenry County Animal Control, praised the work of students and teachers in the community. “What starts here can be global,” she said.

Speaker Mark Papadas, president and COO of I Am 4 Kids Foundation in Lake in the Hills, told students about the lifelong benefits of service work. “Giving to others will make you more successful in whatever you choose to do,” he said.

For some students, the projects were powerful hands-on lessons. Karly Wagner, a 17-year-old junior at South, and other choir and band students spent a day visiting nursing homes and performing for senior citizens. “It was really a great experience,” she said. “I talked to a lady who had been in choir, and she was really touched – she started crying.” Wagner walked away from the project with a better sense of how much of an impact she could have on others.

Fellow choir member Connor Dziedzic enjoyed the project as well. “I felt like the senior citizens got a lot out of it – they loved us,” the 18-year-old student said. “As a group, I think we made a difference.”
– Brett Rowland