Merrill’s Annual Service Fair
Merrill held its fourth annual Service Fair on October 10th. During the fair, eighth grade students met with representatives from more than twenty local organizations to sign up for future volunteer commitments.
Each eighth grade student is required to perform 10 hours of community service in the course of their 8th grade year. There are four stages in the development of each student’s project. First, they research and write a Service Rationale that identifies and defines the community need for their project. Second, they create a detailed Service Plan that identifies the organization that they will be partnering with, the dates that they will be serving, the work they will be doing and contact information for the adult/s who will be verifying their service hours. The third step is Service Verification. Students have between October and May to perform their 10 hours of service, which must be verified by signatures from the adult who is supervising their service. The final step is a Service Reflection where the student identifies strengths and weaknesses in their project as well as what they learned and how the project could be improved.
Organizations ranging from the Animal Rescue League, Community Youth Concepts, Fountain West Health Center, Iowa Kidstrong and the Lupus Foundation have already confirmed their attendance for this year’s Fair. Last year Merrill eighth graders performed over 900 hours of service to their community.
Merrill’s Annual Service Fair
Merrill held its fourth annual Service Fair on October 10th. During the fair, eighth grade students met with representatives from more than twenty local organizations to sign up for future volunteer commitments.
Each eighth grade student is required to perform 10 hours of community service in the course of their 8th grade year. There are four stages in the development of each student’s project. First, they research and write a Service Rationale that identifies and defines the community need for their project. Second, they create a detailed Service Plan that identifies the organization that they will be partnering with, the dates that they will be serving, the work they will be doing and contact information for the adult/s who will be verifying their service hours. The third step is Service Verification. Students have between October and May to perform their 10 hours of service, which must be verified by signatures from the adult who is supervising their service. The final step is a Service Reflection where the student identifies strengths and weaknesses in their project as well as what they learned and how the project could be improved.
Organizations ranging from the Animal Rescue League, Community Youth Concepts, Fountain West Health Center, Iowa Kidstrong and the Lupus Foundation have already confirmed their attendance for this year’s Fair. Last year Merrill eighth graders performed over 900 hours of service to their community.