Community Project: Impacting Change

Many of the students sitting in your classroom are destined to change the world. All of them can make an impact, in ways large and small – and the gratification and pride they’ll feel as a result will change their own lives as well.

Whether or not community service is now a requirement at your school, we believe a project like the one outlined here is meaningful and rewarding for students, empowering them to make a positive impact on the world around them. You can tap into their creative energy and their frustration with the problems of the world, and give them a way to make their voices heard.

This project is designed for middle and high school students. It can be an individual or group project, conducted within any class, and focused on any subject or theme that you prefer.

Step 1 – Getting Inspired
Your students’ first step is to find a cause that inspires them, within whatever parameters you have put in place. We recommend giving them as much leeway as possible, empowering them from Day 1 to truly make this project “their own.”

We’ve included a list of project ideas in our free project download.

Step 2 – Research and Planning
Encourage your students to do thorough research so they understand the nature and scope of the problem they plan to tackle. Once they’ve outlined the “who, what and why” of their cause, as well as the ways in which they can make a difference, they will need to write up a detailed plan of attack. If this activity is organized as a group project, the plan must include specific roles for each group member.

Step 3 – Interested and Involved Third Parties
In almost all cases, your students’ projects will involve other parties within the community, both the beneficiaries, and those who help bring the plan to fruition. Examples of “interested third parties” include:

• School or town officials
• Owners or managers of the facility used
• Managers of organizations to which your project may contribute
• Classmates and volunteers

The students should be well-prepared before they reach out to these parties. They must be able to succinctly articulate their plan, their specific request, and the expected benefits.

You may want to ask the students to prepare scripts to follow when they call or visit the involved parties. Role playing may also be valuable in building confidence and polish, especially for younger students.

Step 4 – Plan Presentations
Once the students have solid plans in place, with buy-in from all necessary parties, they will prepare a presentation for you and their classmates. The presentations should include:

• A brief description of their selected cause or issue
• An overview of the ways in which they can help
• Identification of involved parties and each person’s role, as well as any related feedback provided by these parties
• Schedule of completion of each aspect of the project, from start to finish
• Specific community benefits expected

The presentations should be approximately 10-15 minutes long. If these are group presentations, the groups may elect a speaker, or they may each present the content that is relevant to their own role.

When possible, the students should try to enhance their presentations with elements such as:

• Examples of similar projects done in the past – and the results
• Quotes from involved parties, expressing interest
• Visual aids

At the end of the presentation, inspired classmates can volunteer as helpers in whichever additional project interests them most.

Step 5 – Put Plan into Action
Now it’s time for the projects to get underway. It’s likely that they will vary in length, so you can create a schedule for learning the results of each, spread out over the remainder of the school year.

Instruct the students to take careful notes throughout the project, recording successes, issues, changes, and reactions from all involved parties, especially including the beneficiaries. They should try to capture exact quotes. They should also look for ways to quantify the results, collecting specifics such as:

• 130 donations were collected
• 26 families/animals/people received benefits
• 245 signatures/pledges were collected

Step 6 – Report on Project Results
This far-reaching project culminates with each student or group preparing a final report. The information recorded throughout the process (as outlined above) will become key elements of the report, which should also include:

• Most rewarding aspect of the project
• Most challenging aspect of the project
• Lessons learned – things to do differently in the future
• Quotes from participants, observers and beneficiaries
• Pictures or videos
• Examples of materials used – such as flyers, signs, etc.
• Quantification of results, when possible

Finally, encourage your students to turn their reports into newspaper articles or blogs, to submit to the school or community paper/website.

Community Service Project Ideas

• Plant a community garden
• Organize a “Don’t drive and text” campaign
• Help a homeless family or shelter
• Raise awareness of global issues
• Support our troops
• Organize a food drive or clothing drive
• Create mentorships and after-school programs
• Organize an anti-bullying campaign
• Support victims of domestic violence or bullying
• Perform a community beautification drive
• Support the local animal shelter
• Provide aid for senior citizens

While the benefits to the community are obvious, this project also presents an extremely valuable learning experience for your students, building leadership, organization, time-management, collaboration, problem-solving, networking and writing skills.

For your convenience, we have formatted this activity in a printable, downloadable document. We hope your class enjoys the exercise – please share your results in our Comments section!

FREE DOWNLOAD