Students In Action is a national youth volunteer leadership, recognition and reward program, designed to pass the tradition of service on to the next generation.
Co-developed by Jefferson Awards for Public Service and Deloitte, it is now in over 250 High Schools.
Each spring, Student Leaders from the participating schools compete in regional competitions. They are asked to report on the implementation of the program, and the impact they've had, both in their schools and within their communities.
Wando High is a diverse school of approximately 3100 students who enjoy giving back to their community. Wando has numerous community service clubs.
-Our principal, Dr. Lucy Beckham, who is the 2009 Met-life Principal of the Year, engages the school in the community by setting a good example for the students. She constantly recognizes students for their achievements. -Under the direction of Mr. Jourdan and Ms. LeClerc, we conduct productive meetings in our overall quest to expand community service opportunities in our school and community. Through our connections with the support system and our leadership team we share our ideas with the community and other Wando student organizations Since we are a young and small organization, it is a daunting task to involve 3100 students in our school, but we are committed to the quest of fostering relationships between the students of Wando and the community of Mount Pleasant. Tracking volunteer hours is “good old fashion” manpower. It is a cooperation between our organization and other Wando service organizations. We have recently introduced the Ugive website to the Mount Pleasant local government, and we plan to share this information with service clubs and other service organizations in the community.
-Our principal, Dr. Lucy Beckham, who is the 2009 Met-life Principal of the Year, engages the school in the community by setting a good example for the students. She constantly recognizes students for their achievements. -Under the direction of Mr. Jourdan and Ms. LeClerc, we conduct productive meetings in our overall quest to expand community service opportunities in our school and community. Through our connections with the support system and our leadership team we share our ideas with the community and other Wando student organizations Since we are a young and small organization, it is a daunting task to involve 3100 students in our school, but we are committed to the quest of fostering relationships between the students of Wando and the community of Mount Pleasant. Tracking volunteer hours is “good old fashion” manpower. It is a cooperation between our organization and other Wando service organizations. We have recently introduced the Ugive website to the Mount Pleasant local government, and we plan to share this information with service clubs and other service organizations in the community.
-Our principal, Dr. Lucy Beckham, who is the 2009 Met-life Principal of the Year, engages the school in the community by setting a good example for the students. She constantly recognizes students for their achievements. -Under the direction of Mr. Jourdan and Ms. LeClerc, we conduct productive meetings in our overall quest to expand community service opportunities in our school and community. Through our connections with the support system and our leadership team we share our ideas with the community and other Wando student organizations Since we are a young and small organization, it is a daunting task to involve 3100 students in our school, but we are committed to the quest of fostering relationships between the students of Wando and the community of Mount Pleasant. Tracking volunteer hours is “good old fashion” manpower. It is a cooperation between our organization and other Wando service organizations. We have recently introduced the Ugive website to the Mount Pleasant local government, and we plan to share this information with service clubs and other service organizations in the community.
-Wando Students in Action strives to be the hub of community service activity. We want to coordinate community service efforts between existing school organizations and community needs. We also strive to honor those students who have by their own initiative made a difference in our community. We have 7 members of our leadership team; 2 seniors, 2 juniors, 3 sophomores. Our Senior Leader is Jamie Johnson, and I am the Junior Leader. Jamie is in charge of communication and master of the award ceremonies. Duties fall equally to the other members We recruit through both teacher and leadership team recommendations. - The student leader team did attend the Student Leadership Conference
The student leaders of the Jefferson Awards surprise the award winner during class. The school TV news program, Tribe Talk, films the award ceremony and interviews the student being recognized. The school newspaper, the Tribal Tribune, is also notified of the student’s award. As you can see from the names, we have recognized a winner every month since October. Through our on-campus connections, we became the Help Desk for Help at Wando. We would make monthly announcements at service club meetings for upcoming service opportunities. For instance, we designed and organized the chapter project for the National Honors Society in the fall and are currently organizing the Spring Chapter project. For other community organizations, sign-up lists are currently available with our faculty advisor. We communicate with other service clubs by email. Bottom Line: We have a Facebook Group and a page on Twitter to increase awareness of the Students in Action at Wando.
We didn’t have a fundraiser for money, but we did have a service opportunity that needed supplies and volunteers to provide them. What would a Root Beer Social be without cups, ice cream, and root beer?