Learning to Make a Difference

from a Reflection Writing Retreat at Shelburne Farms

Learning to Make a Difference

by Tiffany Tillman

Tiffany works for Shelburne Farms in the Sustainable Schools Project (SSP). She reflects here about how social and physical environments affect the choices and attitudes of students toward making a difference, and wonders whether the kind of projects they choose matters in the long run.

In my twenty-eight years of life I’ve spent much time thinking about how I can make a difference in the world. As a little girl I daydreamed of changes I would make in my own life and community. My mother would make jokes about how I was the child that was going to save the world. My mother no longer makes those jokes, she just proudly listens as I tell her stories of children learning and growing. She now reflects on how my career path as an educator is no surprise to her.

Being an educator is my way of having an impact in the world and seeing my life-long goals unfold. Over the years, my passion for civic engagement has shaped my teaching practice and philosophy of education. I believe the most important task for me as an educator is to connect my students with their community and empower them to take action. I believe it is of the utmost importance that I teach my students they can make a difference while providing them the opportunity to do so.

So how do we do this? How best do we engage future citizens in their community? What is the best way to provide them with the necessary skills and experiences to contribute to a thriving, sustainable community?

During the past two years working with Shelburne Farms Sustainable Schools Project in Burlington, Vermont, I’ve moved these questions around in my mind. Luckily, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside and share stories with diverse groups of students from around the world. All of the students successfully and wholeheartedly initiated, planned and carried out projects that met their community’s needs, and taught me a great deal about fostering civic engagement.

During the 2003-2004 school year, I worked with ninety 4th and 5th grade students at Champlain Elementary School who participated in the Healthy Neighborhoods/Healthy Kids project (HN/HK). This year-long study teaches students how neighborhood planning affects healthy lifestyles and engages students in neighborhood improvement projects. To begin the HN/HK project, Champlain students developed a Quality of Life Index. They drew maps of their ideal neighborhood and met with experts to learn how various neighborhoods were planned. After learning about and analyzing neighborhoods, students developed a report card to grade neighborhood features. Students then took to the streets with their report cards before making recommendations for neighborhood improvements. When the winter cold set in, students wrote letters to the Department of Public Works and presented their findings and recommendations to neighborhood planning groups. Students also learned about healthy food and exercise choices. In the spring, HN/HK culminated with students initiating service projects that met community needs. They reflected on their learning before celebrating and sharing their successes at a school-wide Healthy Kids Day.

The students were highly engaged in the decision-making process of selecting projects. After surveying their neighborhoods and assessing community needs, they chose projects such as planting flowers in the park and painting park benches and playground equipment. One group of students worked hard to raise money by writing a grant to install playground equipment, a bike rack, a safety light for a park, and funds to resurface a basketball court.

Over the past summer, I attended the International Children’s Conference on the Environment in New London, Connecticut with four students who were engaged in the HN/HK project. Over 450 children ages 10-13 from fifty countries gathered to share their environmental projects and make recommendations and challenges to share with the world’s governments. A group of boys from India, called the Eco-kids, presented their watershed education and polybag (plastic bags) extinction project with the other children during one morning gathering. The Eco-kids stated their streets were filled with polybags and the bags harmed their animals and clogged their waterways. They visited town markets and performed skits that taught people about problems the polybags created. As an alternative to polybags they made and sold canvas bags and handed out educational pamphlets about water quality. Another boy from Japan spent summer days on the beach. While on the beach he saw how development and transportation infringed upon the vitality of the loggerhead turtles’ population. He saw this as a great problem and set out to help the turtles by starting his own “Save the Loggerhead Turtle” Campaign. After researching when the turtles lay eggs and migrate to the ocean, he organized volunteers to help the turtles make it safely to the ocean.

This past fall, I started working with another group of 4th/5th grade students at Lawrence Barnes Elementary school in Burlington on their own HN/HK project. As at Champlain, these students began by conducting a Quality of Life Index, in this case surveying their entire school. A group of 4th and 5th grade students asked every class in the school, and some parents, what they thought “was needed in order for every living thing to get what it needs, be happy, safe and healthy.” They collected the data and are currently putting it into a database where the school can access it to help make decisions about civic engagement projects. Barnes’ students also drew maps of their ideal neighborhoods. They came up with a list of ideal neighborhood components and discussed whether or not their components contribute to safe and healthy lifestyles. One of the 4th/5th classes spent six weeks learning about and practicing skills and strategies for making effective decisions. All of the 4th/5th students met with Officer Small and learned about walk- and bike-ability features of streets and sidewalks. They also met with Kirsten Merriman Shapiro, the Coordinator of the North Street Revitalization Project, to discuss changes that are and will be taking place right outside their school. Kirsten listened to students’ ideas for North Street revitalization and informed them about projects that may be feasible for them to recommend and carry out. Barnes’ students have practiced using the Neighborhood Report Card and are eagerly awaiting warm winter weather so they can take to the streets and evaluate where they live.

All of these experiences learning from children from around the world intrigues me. I’m intrigued by how diverse the students’ projects are and wonder from where this difference stems. After many hours of reflection, I began to look to the students’ community for answers. Many International students live in places where species extinction and clean water are a serious issue. In India, many people don’t have clean water to drink. Some streets are dirty and polluted. Clean drinking water is a community need so it seems natural students chose to take on this complex global issue.

Most Champlain students live in suburban neighborhoods with owner-occupied, single family homes. There are parks and green spaces along with backyards where children can play catch and grow a garden. For Champlain students making sure their parks and green places are safe and clean was an important issue for them to tackle. They played daily in their parks and wanted to be sure they can access and play safely on the playground equipment.

Barnes students live in the Old North End (ONE) of Burlington. The ONE community is a low-income urban environment where only 15% percent of residents are homeowners. The many houses, which are primarily multi-family homes, are close together and few have yards large enough for playing and growing gardens. Many students will say they aren’t allowed to play outside because their parents don’t feel the neighborhood is safe. Though Barnes’ students have not chosen their projects, I’m guessing their projects are going to relate to issues they face daily.

During reflection of their experience at the conference, one Champlain student commented, “It is amazing to see that other youth from around the world are trying to help the environment like we are. However, other kids can’t live without their projects. We can.” Another student said he felt his group’s project wasn’t as impressive as the projects of kids from other countries. “Vermont’s environment is very healthy, it isn’t as polluted. In India they don’t have fresh water. In some places in Nepal they don’t have electricity. They need to work to protect their water. Their projects really made a difference.” The student’s reflection really struck me. He was right, the projects were very different. But did that matter? Was one project more important than the other? Did the students in India gain more from their experience? Did they learn more?

The more I thought about what they said, the more I felt it didn’t matter. All of the children chose projects that relate directly to their community’s needs and that they were passionate about. They all gained valuable skills and experiences that will help them be engaged citizens and contribute to a sustainable society. The students assessed their community, they met with experts and presented to local officials, they planned and implemented projects that addressed real community needs that involved community members and volunteers. The students celebrated their successes and inspired others to take action.

Had the Champlain students not completed their service project they wouldn’t have attended the conference. At the conference they were inspired by the work of other students and gained the confidence they needed to come back and initiate the creation and flying of a Peace Dove on International Peace Day. Their work with HN/HK was the catalyst that inspired civic action. They utilized the skills they learned and put them to work in their community—all of their own accord.

It is hard for us as educators to allow our students to choose the projects they do. We often guide them in choosing projects we feel are more important than others. As long as their projects include the essential elements of youth voice, feasible design, real community need, curriculum/community context and partnerships, the students will be well on their way to becoming participatory members of a sustainable society.