NobleHour Blog

How do kids begin the process of choosing a college major? For some it’s an easy decision. Often, it starts with a specific interest or maybe they are exceptional in a particular subject. I remember in high school completing some sort of career questionnaire. It said my interests would align with communications or public relations. I figured, great! I like people and I like to talk. For me, communications was a great fit, but looking back, I do wish I had done more research about career paths for my major. 

Kids today have access to so much more information. College majors seem more defined and specialized now. When I went to college, I went in thinking I had at least two years to figure out my major. Many students now declare their major during the college admissions process. But how does an 18 year old really know what they want to do? How do they figure out all the potential careers one major can offer?

One way to help them figure it out is to volunteer. Community engagement can provide high school and college students with an opportunity to explore their interests or try something new.

“Kids who do community service see how they can apply their skills in different areas,” said Dan Van Dyke, a high school counselor for De La Salle Institute in Chicago, IL.

Van Dyke said when he asks students why they want to pursue a specific major; they usually reply that they are good in that subject. For example, a student good in Math wants to study Engineering, but he may not look further than the obvious career path. They don’t think about all the different options for their particular set of skills. Many students just don’t want to do the research.

However, Van Dyke said students who perform community service seem to have a better idea of what majors they want to pursue and will research them as part of their college admissions process. “I’ve seen kids who work at the Greater Chicago Food Depository or help the homeless, and they become interested in public policy or social work. They want to know how they can use their talents for social good. They are more motivated to do research about colleges and majors because they are exposed to different career options.”

Van Dyke has also seen students avoid certain majors because they don’t think it will lead to a career with a lucrative salary. Through student volunteering, they realize there are other rewards for specific careers. “Students that do community service with kids, come back with a feeling of accomplishment. They can see that they can make a difference and it’s very rewarding.”

Jennifer Walker, Director of Programs for Madison House, the student volunteer center at the University of Virginia, has seen similar circumstances with college students. “Some of our students want to pursue volunteering that is in their professional field of interest. For example, prospective teachers may want to get a better sense of what it is like to be in the classroom before they apply to graduate programs for teaching.”

For Allison and Sally-Rose Cragin, volunteering has always been a family affair. Their mom, Louise, instilled a love of helping others at an early age by encouraging them to volunteer at Krewe de Camp, an annual, one-week camp for children with special needs in Covington, Louisiana.

Allison’s volunteer work at the camp and throughout high school not only confirmed her desire to work in medicine, but also influenced her decision to become a pediatrician. A 2012 graduate of Louisiana State University School of Medicine, Allison is currently in the UAB Pediatrics Residency Program, and continues to volunteer. “I was always interested in becoming a doctor, but I thought I would pursue surgery or research,” said Cragin. “Now I hope to be a pediatrician for children with special healthcare needs. The projects I did in college were definitely geared toward my interest in medicine.”

Sally-Rose’s decision to pursue her major was also a direct result of her experiences volunteering at Krewe de Camp. She is a junior at Rochester Institute of Technology studying American Sign Language Interpreter Education.

“Every year, since before I can remember, my mom brought me to help her at Krewe de Camp. When I was 8 years old, I met a girl named Katie who had Cerebral Palsy. She couldn't use her voice to speak so she used sign language. As soon as camp was over I asked my mom for some sign language books and dictionaries so I could learn how to communicate with Katie for the next summer. I can trace back my decision to go to RIT for interpreting to that day. I loved the feeling of being able to communicate with someone through a visual language and I wanted to be able to facilitate communication between people like Katie and other people who don't know her language.” 

Sally-Rose said her favorite part of high school was the community service work she was able to do during high school with Boys Hope Girls Hope of New Orleans and summer camps like Camp Sertoma and Meadowood Springs Speech and Hearing Camp.

“When I graduate in May of 2015, I would love to do Educational Interpreting in some of the younger grades. I would really like to go to graduate school for a Masters Degree in Special Education with a focus in Deaf Education.”

Walker thinks it’s never too soon to begin student volunteering in the community. “It can provide an easy and free way for students to get an idea about their potential career path.”  

What are your children’s interests? Are they volunteering in areas they want to study in college? Not sure where to start, check out our guide to volunteering. 

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

Volunteerism is not only great for the community, but it can also benefit young volunteers by creating opportunities for scholarships. Several programs exist to reward students for their service to the community and help them finance their higher education.  Here are a few examples of volunteer scholarships:

• The Prudential Spirit of Community Award “is the United States' largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service.”  This award is available to students in grades 5-12 who have engaged in community service and leadership over the last year.  The deadline for applications this year is November 5^th, and the winners will be announced on February 11th, 2014.  Winners are selected on the local, state, and national level.  A special awards ceremony for state winners is held in Washington, DC.  A $5,000 award is given to winners who progress to the national level.  The Spirit of Community program encourages service on an international platform, awarding students in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, and China.
  
  
• The Best Buy Scholarship Program awards 1,100 scholarships each year to high schools students who show strength in both academics and volunteerism.  The scholarship money is given for higher education.  In addition to academic records and extracurricular activities, students are asked to provide a record of their service-learning hours when applying.
  
  
• The Gloria Baron Prize for Young Heros annually recognizes 25 outstanding young leaders. The founder of the Barron Prize, author T. A. Barron, named it after his late mother Gloria. Gloria Barron was a teacher, a mother, and an active member of her community.  She dedicated her life to young people, encouraging her students to write their stories down and urging them to do something to better the world.  She believed in the power of the individual, particularly a young individual's ability to better the greater community. Young people across America can be nominated for the award after completing a service project that makes "a significant positive difference to people and our planet."  Nominations are accepted until April 30, and winners are announced late September.  Of the 25 selected, the top ten receive $5,000 to be applied to their higher education or to their service project, a recognition plaque, a signed copy of "The Hero's Trail" by T.A. Barron, and other awards. The Barron Prize seeks to recognize the inspiring work of young people.
• The retail store Kohl’s offers the Kohl's Cares Scholarship Program for students aged 6-18 who have not yet graduated from high school.  The program has recognized 17,500 students and granted over three million dollars in scholarships.  Students are nominated and selected based on the impact their volunteer hours had on the community.  Winners from each store receive a $50 Kohl's Gift Certificate.  The most meaningful projects are selected from each region and awarded $1000, and national winners receive a $10,000 scholarship plus a donation of $1000 to a nonprofit valued by the student.  The award monies for region and national winners are used toward the student's higher education.  Nominations for the 2014 Kohls Cares Scholarship Program will be open from January 31-March 14, 2014.
  
  These are just some examples of scholarships for volunteers provided by private institutions, but several publicly funded programs also exist to recognize volunteerism:
  
  Several Government scholarships exist to award students for their service and help them pay for higher education.  AmeriCorps, a branch of the Corporation for National and Community Service*, encourages young people to dedicate a year to service working with a nonprofit, school, public agency, or community.  Students earn valuable skills, become civically minded, and gain experience valued in the workforce—where they are heading after their year of service.  For their volunteer work, students receive a small stipend to cover living expenses, since in dedicating all their time to volunteering, they have no other source of income.  They also receive benefits such as healthcare and childcare during their time as a volunteer.  Upon finishing a term of volunteerism, students are eligible to apply for the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award*, which awards volunteer scholarship money to be put towards paying for higher education or repaying student loans.  The scholarship award is valued at the maximum Pell Grant during the year of service.  Members of AmeriCorps can receive up to two Education Awards if they volunteer for more than one term.  This program not only encourages young people to serve and become active and dedicated to a cause, it also helps them pay for their higher education.
  
  
• The President’s Volunteer Service Award*, previously discussed on NobleHour, also recognizes volunteers who, alongside their daily lives, track hundreds of hours helping in the community.  Applicants are asked to produce some type of log as proof of their volunteer hours.  Tracking volunteer hours on using NobleHour’s hour-tracking software is a way to accomplish this.
  
  

Volunteer scholarships are a great opportunity to help reward and recognize students for their work and help them pay off their tuition.  What are some other ways students can use their talents to overcome the challenges of today’s rising tuition fees?

*For the time being, volunteers are unable to apply for these programs and awards due to the federal government shutdown. More information about the effects of the government shut down can be read in the Corporation for National and Community Service’s contingency plan.

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

Unity - What does it mean to you?  Can a group form cohesively without some underlying unity between them? Probably not, and they can’t bind together entirely by choice either.  Unity is the reconciliation between what is instinctual and what is intentional within a group of people. Perhaps unity comes from the natural connection between people, and becoming mutually conscious of our connections is what we call unity. Can—and do—we choose unity, or is unity something that only happens when we look into the yearnings of others and find ourselves? No matter the answer,  it is clear that unity has power.

PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center has been using the power of unity to to unite students, parents, teachers, and community members against bullying.  They started and have been celebrating National Bullying Prevention Month each October since 2006, and in 2011 created Unity Day on October 9^th. PACER (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights) is an organization, created in 1977, dedicated to helping improve the quality of life of disabled children and helping create a support system for parents with disabled children.  In 2006 PACER created the National Bullying Prevention Center in response to concerns and fears of parents with disabled children who were bullied in school.  Today, the organization has grown and provides a host of educational materials for schools, communities, and parents to help with bullying prevention programs.  

Unity Day is celebrated both online and offline in a show of support of students struggling with the stigma of being bullied.  To participate in Unity Day, schools and communities are encouraged to wear the color orange, write UNITY somewhere visible on their person or belongings, hang banners displaying the event, and wear an orange unity ribbon.  Participants can purchase their own unity banner on the PACER website; however, to make the event more inclusive and interactive, schools could consider discussing the issue of bullying and students could create their own unity banners reflecting how they believe they can take actions.  Instructions and details about the unity ribbon and about getting involved can be found here.  

Unity Day also takes place online.  Participating in Unity Day could mean sharing it via social media because social media can spread information faster and farther than anything else.  The National Bullying Prevention Center recommends changing one’s Facebook status to “UNITY DAY, October 9^th.  Join the movement to make it orange and make it end!  If you are being bullied, you are not alone. Unite and be a champion against bullying!”  However, students could go beyond a generic phrase and harness the power of social media by posting their words of encouragement and support for October 9^th.  Joining the Unity Day Facebook event and posting picture wearing orange and creating posters are some other ways to get involved online and share the fight against bullying via social media.  With these basic activities, anyone can get involved in Unity Day and reflect upon the challenges faced by students bullied in school.

Schools can go the extra mile in celebrating Unity Day by addressing bullying with the student body.  Serious class discussions and forums could take place to get students’ feedback about how they’ve experienced bullying, what their thoughts are about it, and how it should be dealt with.  The National Bullying Prevention Center also has instructions for hosting a Unity Dance accompanied by optional music and choreography to the song “You Can’t Take That Away from Me” by Nashville musicians Tim Akers and Libby Weavers.  PACER also has an online petition for students to sign in support of students being bullied and in hope of ending bullying.  Students can also get involved by using their artistic abilities to talk about bullying and design a way to symbolically represent unity.

Additionally,  “The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin” is an accessible way to teach younger students about bullying.  The story, available in both movie and storybook format, tells about a Spookley who is a square pumpkin living in a patch of round pumpkin.  The story and its accompanying lesson plans can help teachers engage their students in a discussion about bullying by using a simple story and applying it to reality.  To fully benefit from the message and objective of embracing Unity Day, schools and students should attempt to really involve participants in the event and draw attention to both the problem and solution.  More information and resources to help spark a celebration of Unity Day can be found here.

Unity has power, and harnessing that power is the goal of Unity Day.  Uniting people online and offline is like one big petition against bullying.  People are called upon to petition their support in the colours they wear, the things they share online, the discussions they have about conflict resolution, and in the form of an actual petition to sign.  We think of the purpose of petition as a unified group compelling someone to change by a show of support for the issue.  Spreading awareness is a big part of Unity Day, but awareness is only useful if it promotes action.  Though Unity Day is an annual event, hopefully one year it will not be necessary.  

About PACER's Bullying Prevention Center

Every year 13 million kids in America are bullied. PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center unites, engages, and educates communities nationwide to prevent bullying through the use of creative, interactive resources. It has three helpful websites that offer a wide variety of free resources teachers, students, and families can use to address bullying in schools, the community, and online:

• KidsAgainstBullying.org is for elementary school children.

• TeensAgainstBullying.org is for middle school and high school students.

• PACER.org/bullying is for parents, educators, and other concerned adults.

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

In beginning this post about social entrepreneurship, I was very excited because it is such an exciting and inspiring focus.  However after tapping mindlessly on my keyboard and coming up short, I was faced the ultimate test of blogging in taking what social entrepreneurship means to me and translating it into what it means to the world.  As a writer I realized I was stuck on words to use, and as a learner I saw that my stuckness meant I had much to learn, so I began researching.  I proceeded to answer the question: What is social entrepreneurship?

It was not too long until I found Ashoka, the largest global network of social entrepreneurs, had answers to my question.  Ashoka, with years of experiences building social entrepreneurship, explains that, “Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems . . . a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything . . . the citizen sector has discovered what the business sector learned long ago: There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur.”  Ashoka helps social entrepreneurs change the world by providing start-up funds, advice, and access to a worldwide network of support systems and volunteers.  They encourage individuals to innovate society by applying entrepreneurial skills to real-world problems.  I knew the topic of social entrepreneurship was exciting and inspiring, but I felt that as an explanation was too abstract, and I went on to find real world examples of social entrepreneurship changing the world. 

Reading about some of the world's greatest social entrepreneurs on PBS' “Meet the New Heroes”, I was touched.  Take Moses Zulu, who started Children's Town, an orphanage created to help children in Zambia whose "basic needs are unaffordable luxuries."  Taking in children who've lost their parents to AIDS, Children's Town cares for and educates these children to better their future with skills they'll use to find better jobs.  Meet Kailash Satyarthi in South Asia, who started his social entrepreneurship by leading raids into factories to liberate workers, particularly children, from a life of servitude.  Then there’s Mimi Silbert who started Delany Street Foundation to help house and rehabilitate people stuck in a life of crime.  In conjunction with education and counselling to help clients find jobs and lead successful lives free of crime, the residents work in the organization’s many businesses to generate revenue for the program, linking their success to the success of the organization.  The list of social enterprises goes on, and I found it extremely difficult to find just one—one that was the most impactful, most interesting, or most striking—to write about. 

I wanted to know all of them.  To write about their causes and analyze their successes to help you see where your social enterprise might start, but I realized that I also have an English presentation to write today so there was not time to write a novel. The story of social entrepreneurship is innovative, inspiring, and incredibly heart wrenching.  Each opened my eyes to a world of suffering I hadn't known before, but also a world of hope. Social entrepreneurs take the downtrodden and use business concepts to empower the world.  Social entrepreneurship is rooted in the idea that filling tonight's hungry bellies and bandaging the day's wounds only leaves for more hungry bellies and broken bones tomorrow.  Aid and handouts are helpful in the present but also temporary and easily used up. Sustainable and innovative solutions tackle tomorrow's problems today. 

The education sector is realizing the mark social entrepreneurship is making.  A recent article “Social Entrepreneurship Is Bringing Purpose To Higher Education” explains how this process is unfolding.  With today’s academic inflations (see a great explanation of this process here)—and high tuition costs—, “students, parents and employers are all expressing doubt about the value of an undergraduate degree.”  To get the best value out of their education, students are increasingly drawn to social entrepreneur programs.  Programs that reconcile learning with passion and innovation: “ . . . teaching social entrepreneurship is a key part of solving this problem . . . Entrepreneurs are defined by their sense of drive and determination, their willingness to fail and then try again, and their vision for applying their learning in productive ways. Those also happen to be the characteristics of great learners.”  The article details some programs and fellowships that encourage university students to pursue their social enterprise goals.  These include Uncollege’s Gap Year program that encourages students to take a year off college in the name of social enterprise, ThinkImpact’s summer institutes, Brown University’s Swearer Center, and Middlebury’s Center for Social Enterprise.  In addition to knowledge, successful graduates will also need motivation and initiative to take what they have learned and use it to solve world problems.  The purpose of education is not just to make grades and past tests; it’s also for young people to develop the intellect and skills needed for lifelong success.  In the case of social entrepreneurship, success lies in synthesizing these skills with social responsibility, and embedding one’s success and passion in empowering others. 

Social entrepreneurs invest their talents in the world and the output is the happiness for both producer and consumer.  One of my favourite social entrepreneur teams is Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy and David Green. They started eye hospitals in Madurai, India, Nepal and United States to treat cataracts.  Green uses a term I love, “compassionate capitalism,” to explain social entrepreneurship: “Green is convinced that western capitalism has failed to grasp opportunities in the developing world . . . He says "compassionate capitalism" extracts a small amount of profit from each item sold, but generates a very high sales volume. In the process, it is possible to make available critical goods and services — like eye care — to billions of people” (“Meet the New Heroes”). 

In writing this post about social entrepreneurship I discovered that my understanding and mere awareness of the process was not enough.  I’ve found people who recognize the potential in the afflicted and find a way to pull success out of them.  In discovering the stories of the world’s change makers and learning from their determination and success, I’ve come to appreciate people not only for their talents, but how they impose their kindness on the cruel world to make it better.

“Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful.” -Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy
 

Images via Steve Jurvetson and Wil Kristin 

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

When returning to school, kick some of the nervousness by being prepared.  Consider how last year went, and decide what went well and what you’d like to do differently.  Here are some tips for kicking bad habits of schooldays past, and starting the year anew ready to improve.  

1. Hit the Ground Running: Don’t wait for the first report card to improve your habits.  A new year with new teachers and classes means a fresh start for students.  It’s the opportunity to do better and break old habits.  Each year there are courses more challenging from the last, so think ahead as to what subjects you may need to give more attention to this year.  Study and review a little each day so you know all the material so you aren’t cramming.  Pull yourself out of the ease of summer and start on homework the day you receive it—yes, even on the first day—to break any old habits of procrastination.  Don’t fall behind on the first week, or it will just become more and more difficult to catch up.

2. Stay Organized:  One of the worst feelings is having done an assignment but having left it at home on the day it’s due.  Devise a system of organization on the first week.  Know what belongs in each binder, notebook, or folder so that by midterms you aren’t searching to find notes among a pile of papers haphazardly thrown into your backpack.  If your teacher allows it, periodically discard old papers you don’t need, but never through out notes and study materials you may need later.  Instead store those at home so you don’t have to carry around weight that you won’t need for class on a day-to-day basis, but you’ll still have them come finals.  One year my teacher had a poster reading, “Organization is the key to success” above her blackboard, and it’s true.  Instead of spending time looking for things, you can use your time on the things that really matter.  

3. Manage Your Time:  In addition to managing books and papers you’ve got to manage your time.  If you’ve ever found yourself up at 2 a.m. gluing together a history project, regretting the time you spent not working on it earlier, you’ve learned the hard way the importance of using your time wisely.  Always keep in mind what the week ahead looks like.  Consider how your days with practices, games, meetings, or other extracurricular activities could conflict with tests or major deadlines, and get ahead on assignment or studying you won’t have time for later in the week.  This way you can keep doing your fun activities without sacrificing academics.  If your school doesn’t provide you with one, think about picking up a weekly planner to write down all your assignments, tests, and activities.  If you let assignments pile up you won’t be able to do your best. Managing your time properly alleviates stress and allows you more free time to do the things you love.  

4. Get Involved:  At school there are many opportunities to be involved with clubs and sports.  This is the chance to do something you enjoy and meet people with similar interests.  You’ll make friends, gain experience, and get more out of you education.  It’ll also boost applications or resumes.  The hardest part for some students is knowing where to start.  Make sure you take advantage of any club fairs or interest meetings your school may host so you know what might interest you.  Talk to the teachers who help organize, coach, or advise for different clubs and athletics. If you’re still lacking some confidence, talk to another student involved or bring a friend along.  

5. Ask Your Teachers for Help:  Teachers are there to help you, so don’t be shy to ask.  If you find yourself in a tough spot with the material, talk to your teacher after class to get advice on getting some extra help.  If on a particular week you’re stressed despite your time management with lots of assignments or tests coincidentally at the same time, explain to your teachers the situation ahead of time to see if you can get an extension, but don’t make a habit of it, and I wouldn’t advise coming the day before with excuses.  Teachers should be interested in your success, so don’t be afraid to ask for their advice and help when you need it.  

Learning is the most important part of school.  As you return to school, consider trading in bad habits from last year for better ones this year.  This process of learning about your own capabilities should continue throughout the year.  Constantly evaluate what techniques are working that you should keep up with, and what’s not helping and needs to be changed or improved.  Here are just a few tips, but each individual must understand his or her own learning style in order to achieve.  Good luck in the new school year!  

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

Young people aged 10-24 make up 25 percent of the world’s population (The World’s Youth 2013 Data Sheet) —that’s just fewer than two billion people.  Now, given that middle-aged people are not appearing out of thin air, increased numbers of young people signify a trend of exponential population growth worldwide.  “Youth and the State of the World, a report generated by Advocates for Youth, found that counting everyone 24 and under (including children under ten), youth make up around 40 percent of the world.   Increased population growth and a large proportion of young people is associated with developing economies where birth rates are increasing, making for larger family sizes, and death rates are decreasing.  Of course, “the world” is a little vague, and upon breaking down the geographic distribution of young people, “Youth and the State of the World” finds that “60 percent of youth live in Asia; 15 percent, in Africa; 10 percent, in Latin America and the Caribbean; and the remaining 15 percent, in developed countries and regions.”  These numbers demonstrate that though the overwhelming global trend is that of a growing youth demographic, the uneven distribution of youth over the globe makes for a number of challenges to overcome in ensuring countries’ future prosperity and livelihood held in the hands of young people. 

Young people means potential, but potential is fragile.  For countries with a large proportion of young people the future could hold success.  Take, for example India, one of the fastest largest and fastest growing populations and growing economies with 362.0 million people aged 10-24—more than all of Africa’s 344.4 million.  Danielle Rajendram’s article “The Promise and Peril of India’s Youth Bulge” in The Diplomat describes such a fragile state in India: “Provided India can act quickly on health, education and employment, this demographic dividend has the potential to inject new dynamism into its flagging economy.”  As the history of many post-industrial countries can attest, economically, a growing population means there is a surplus in labor force as well as more people for the economy to support.  To keep this balance, countries need proper investment in their youth in order to industrialize and prosper in a globalized economy.  Investment in education is vital.  Young people who are educated can get better, higher-paying jobs, live healthier lives, have a higher standard of living, and make more informed decisions.  In addition to education, young people need opportunities so countries don’t suffer from brain drain—the process where educated people go abroad for better work, thus depleting the economy of qualified workers.  For India and countries like it, the proper amount of investment in infrastructure and industry is essential to fully benefiting from changes in population demographics. 

As the title of Rajendram’s article suggests, with the potential for success comes the possibility for failure.  Improper investment in education, healthcare programs, and job-creating could mean that countries with high numbers of impoverished youth could remain impoverished.  Rather than empowering youth to advance their financial situation, a country could simply end up with more people in deeper poverty.  It’s a matter of an opportunity being present and creating opportunity for those present.  As Rajendram explains, “The failure of a number of Latin American countries with the same demographic profile as Southeast Asia to achieve similarly impressive economic outcomes is a cautionary tale for India [. . .] The relationship here is mutually reinforcing; India must harness the advantage of its youth to fulfill its economic potential, and in turn must generate growth in order to continue to support its growing population. As noted by India's former Minister of Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal, ‘it will be a dividend if we empower our young. It will be a disaster if we fail to put in place a policy and framework where they can be empowered.’”  The growing youth population is a constant factor in the equation, but the resources put into taking advantage of such an opportunity will determine young people’s future. 

A surplus of young people is like a young sapling.  Watered and cared for it will grow and with it raise a country’s wealth and standard of living.  However, neglect will result in a powerful storm that will knock the frail tree down and bring a country to a situation of poverty lower than that of the roots. 

Young people are not in a surplus everywhere though.  The before mentioned small “remaining 15 percent [aged 10-24], in developed countries and regions” live in the developed world where population is not growing, but declining.  Rather than raising large families like those of the developing world, people of post-industrial economies are having less and less children resulting in a small proportion of young people and a towering number of older people.  On the shoulders of this declining number of young people is ensuring successful enterprise to support the overwhelming retired generation.  Government programs created to curve the collapse of these economies include incentives for having children, and education reform to help students attain university education so they can later contribute more to the economy and the livelihood of older generations.  The situation is reversed from the developing world but its fragility is the same as the young sapling. 

In this brief overview of the situation of young people, it is evident that there is no simple solution to the many challenges presented.  Today there are more young people than ever, and with young people comes and immense amount of potential and responsibility for that potential.  Perhaps there is little one can do to change policy on opposite sides of the globe, but global awareness is still important everywhere, as well as understanding the significance of young people’s contribution.  In just a few paragraphs I can only touch the tip of the iceberg, but a few things seem clear.  Enriching education, infrastructure, global awareness, and investments is key to empowering youth and enabling them to face the challenges of tomorrow.  With more youth today than ever before, these are unchartered waters.  

image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yorickr/4511065370

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo. Derezinski-Choo is a rising junior at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, NC. 

I’ve been here too many times.  The lights are dimmed and shades drawn to allow the flashing white light of the television screen to illuminate the rows of students sitting, legs crossed, on the blue storytime carpet.  Necks crane uncomfortably at the television resting upon a tall, black, movable cart for teachers to easily move the schools technology, but also resulting in sore necks for students sitting at the feet of the stand.  Playing on the screen of a TV, older than most of its young viewers, is a scene familiar both in reality and fictitiously. It goes something like this: Billy pushes Kevin on the playground, claiming his turn at hopscotch has come early.  The playground children notice, and a few children begin to stand and watch.  Kevin runs away crying, giving the children more reason to laugh.  The clip cuts and someone, maybe a teacher or counselor, begins talking about it: bullying. 

It happens in every school.  Not just the incident between Kevin and Billy, but the response: the video, the tall TV, the stretched neck, and the ensuing discussion.  Perhaps it takes place in some other form with the video substituted by a different medium - like a book or a role play, but the cast is still the same: the bully, the victim, the bystanders, and in the happily-ever-after version, an upstander who stops the bully.  Tormenting another person is wrong; kids can see that without the theatrics.  However, it still goes on and horror stories in the news of kids literally being bullied to death have parents and teachers saying that enough is enough.  And so the array of bullying prevention programs keeps expanding.  Students have heard it all in assemblies, presentations, and class lessons.  The repetitiveness makes the term “bully” a little cliché in the eyes of students.  It seems like a word grown-ups use to explain something children experience.  Schools try to find different ways to convey anti-bullying messages, but, with anxieties continuing to rise about the issue, it seems none have found a concrete solution.  The programs designed to curve bullying often stem from the same set of principles, but often these programs lack success because they fail to take into account an open discussion with students before making drastic changes to school environment and student interaction.

Bullying is a problem because it is a traumatic experience for children that can haunt them into adulthood.  Stopbullying.gov has identified some of the effects of bullying on victims: “Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues may persist into adulthood [. . .] Health complaints [. . .] Decreased academic achievement.”  Targets of teasing and rumors are negatively affected by the emotional stress put on them, affecting their studies and outlook on life.  The news that puts parents on edge about their children possibly being bullied is that of suicides of bullied students.  Although this is not to be trivialized, the correlation between the two can be sometimes exaggerated.  Stopbullying.gov says the following on the matter: “Although kids who are bullied are at risk of suicide, bullying alone is not the cause. Many issues contribute to suicide risk, including depression, problems at home, and trauma history [. . .] This risk can be increased further when these kids are not supported by parents, peers, and schools. Bullying can make an unsupportive situation worse.”  Students know these problems inside out, but the way schools try to handle these situations is sometimes not conducive to how students would prefer to see things change.

Recently, a school’s attempt to stop bullying online (cyberbullying) has sparked outrage among its students.  The students of Stockton High School in Stockton, California are protesting a school’s new policy calling for the creation of a Social Media Contract. The rule dictates that students who wish to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports teams and clubs must sign a contract promising to detach themselves from online bullying or face being kicked out of school clubs and sports.  The Lodi Unified School District claims that online bullying is a growing problem and that the new policy is to protect students.  Officials stand firmly behind the new rules.  Students, on the other hand, are not pleased.  Their objection to the contract is rooted in the idea that it restricts free speech.  The harshness and ambiguity of the wording are also major concerns of the students.  Sports, clubs, and outside activities are under the threat that “Big Brother” is watching.  Moreover, students who don’t involve themselves with extracurriculars are more likely to be bullies, and the protesting students feel discouraging their pupils from such activities is a step in the wrong direction.  Why does the rule only apply to some students and not all?  At the heart of it though, students feel they are essentially being bullied into agreeing to these terms by the school district.  Both feel that bullying is a problem, but are finding the solution cannot be forced.  Creating a safe, school environment free of harassment and prejudice takes the ideas and actions of both students and administrators.  

When children grow up, the bullies don’t go away.  The playground just gets bigger.  The situation replays with the same roles: the victim, the bully, and the rest of us watching silently.  Politicians alienate each other in campaign advertisements during elections.  The media bullies celebrities with rumors and criticism that drive some to substance abuse and depression.  Stereotypes, prejudice, domestic abuse, intolerance, genocide, etc.: these are all part of a greater reality in which people can be cruel to each other.  What is called bullying is just a small part of a greater pattern.  The world is not fair because people aren’t. How our culture approaches violence and injustice translates to how children will handle it on the playground.  Problems are easily identified but also easily exaggerated, and effective solutions are difficult. However, it starts with how individuals act and what each person tolerates as right or wrong.  Students are taught not to be passive bystanders, and people of all ages should lead by example.

Billy pushes Kevin on the playground.  The rest is up to you.  

On Sunday, NobleHour awarded three scholarships to students at Guilford County Schools’ annual “Cool to Serve” event. Hundreds of graduates attended the event, which celebrated the class of 2013’s service-learning accomplishments.

Jose Oliva received the NobleHour Platinum Award - $1,000 for having the "Most Impactful Service-Learning Project", Austin Elmore won $500 for the "Best Social/Global Impact Service-Learning Project, and Billy Hawkains won $250 for the Best Community/Civic Engagement Service-Learning Project. 

“...For me, helping people is not about awards, money, hours or anything,” said Oliva in an interview with The News & Record. 

“...When I think about service, I think about people smiling.”

To date, Guilford County students have logged more than 250,000 hours using NobleHour. In addition to the scholarships, students who served more than 225 hours earned a Service-Learning Diploma, and those with more than 100 hours received a Service-Learning Exemplary Award. In order to qualify for recognition, the students’ service must be unpaid, address a community need, and include investigation, preparation and planning, action, reflection, and demonstration components. NobleHour facilitates these requirements through its comprehensive database, hour tracking, and reflection tools.

“By using NobleHour we are able to capture the economic impact our students make within the community.” said Yvonne Foster, Character Development & Service-Learning Coordinator for Guilford County Schools.

The event was put on by the GCS Character Development team, which promotes character education, civic education, and service learning in order to “equip students with the tools and motivation necessary to be the change they wish to see in the world.”

"It is such a heartwarming feeling to see youth involved and for the right reasons!" said Foster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image via The News & Record. 

About NobleHour

NobleHour is based in Lakeland, FL and was started by a team of knowledgeable business investors, representing over 70 years of unparalleled entrepreneurial and business experience. They developed SweatMonkey.org in 2005 as an online service learning management platform for students and schools. SweatMonkey was used by countless organizations such as the YMCA, the SPCA, the United Way of North Central Florida, and the University of Florida. SweatMonkey was rebranded and launched in 2012 as NobleHour.com, an engaging online community platform that includes content sharing, a database of volunteer and job opportunities and events, hour tracking tools for tracking community service hours, and community impact measurement tools. NobleHour's mission is to provide an engaging platform to help connect people with their communities to empower civic engagement. For more information visit www.noblehour.com.

 

 

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

When school stops for the summer, students are all relieved to be free from homework, lectures, assignments, and tests.  It’s time to sleep in, hang out with friends, or travel to the beach.  Summer is generally a fun and relaxing time, but some of this summer free time can be spent engaged in meaningful service.  Get off the couch or computer and be part of the community. Here are a few ways to incorporate service into your summer:

1. Expand on Current Projects: Think of some of the service work you already do, and consider using your extra time to greater your impact. Expand your commitments by signing up for more hours during the week at the library or soup kitchen you volunteer at during the school year.  Use the summer to reflect on your service projects during the year and consider how you can help the nonprofits you work with adapt to changes or expand their outreach. 

2. Try Something New: Always wanted to volunteer somewhere but never had the time during school?  Why not look into a nearby zoo, museum, science center, or visual arts center to see who is looking for volunteers. Sometimes teens have to pass up opportunities that are during school hours, but in the summer you can finally take advantage of some fun opportunities during the day.

3. Work at a Summer Camp:  Whether you loved going to summer camp as a kid or dreaded it, you probably remember seeing the teen volunteers helping the counselors. Now you’ve outgrown Day Camp and it’s time to graduate into being one of the “big kids” you once looked up to who refereed dodge ball and set up the finger painting.  Many camps allow teens to start as trainee volunteers and then move up to working as counselors one or two summers later.  You’ll be put in charge of all sorts of activities like sports, crafts, games, and snack time.  You’re sure to find something you enjoy doing.  Look up camp programs at your local community center to see what opportunities are in store. 

4. Host a Service or Donation Event: Incorporate service into you social calendar.  Invite friends to a pool party and ask them to bring canned or dry foods for a local food bank.  Get your crafty pals together to make jewelry to sell or have a garage sale and donate the proceeds to charity.  Convince your family to participate in a beach or river clean up.  Whichever you decide to do, participating in service with friends and family allows you to spend your summer time with those you care about while helping others.

5. Help the Local Animal Shelter: If you love animals, this is a great place to spend your summer. Lend a helping hand in walking, cleaning, and caring for animals without homes.  You’ll want to keep coming back to help your cute furry friends during the summer.

6. Build your Career through Volunteering: Apply to volunteer internships this summer where you can gain professionalism skills and experience.  With so much free time you can donate more hours into learning about fields that interest you.  You’ll build connections and experience in a field you’re interested in, as well as build up your college application by using your summer to learn and grow.

7. Help a Neighbor: Offer to do yard work for a neighbor who is unable to.  Get to work planting some new flowers to brighten their day, clean up the overgrown bushes, and mow the grass.  It may be hot and laborious, but you’ll be using your time to put a smile on someone’s face. 

8. Visit Nursing Homes: Visit the elderly and keep them company by reading books, playing games, or just chatting for a while.  Help host events and activities.  Tech-savvy teens can help someone connect with email or social networking to keep in touch with distant relatives.  Just spending some time with a senior citizen can brighten his or her day and yours too.  You’ll make new friends and hear stories outside the texting and tweeting generation. 

9. Be an Envinronmental Advocate:  The environment, and the damage humans are causing, is a growing concern today.  Do your part to help Mother Earth.  Plant trees and gardens to clean the air.  Learn how to compost to help your new plants thrive.  Connect with local organizations to promote recycling or teach people what can and cannot be recycled at your local plant.  Participate in park clean up events to free local wildlife from litter and pollution.  During the summer we spend more time outside playing sports, going to the beach, hiking, swimming and more, so it’s important to give back to the earth.  To continue enjoying life here on our only planet, it’s vital that we put time and effort into keeping it sustainable, healthy, and clean. 

10. Host a Book Drive:  Not all public schools are funded equally, and cutbacks make matters worse. You may not be thinking about school in the summer, but organizing a book drive will help students when class is back in session. Access to more books means students can improve their literacy, reading comprehension skills, and critical thinking.  Starting in advance means you’ll have more time and collect more books and donations by the time summer is over.

When the summer’s over, you’ll want to have fond memories to look back on.  Knowing that some of your time spent was to benefit others is an extra bonus.  Remember that service should not be boring to you.  This is your personal contribution to others and to a cause you care about, and, since it’s summer, it should also be fun.  Think about what interests you and what you love to do, and then try to share your passion with others to better the world.  Here’s to the summer, and to making it both memorable and meaningful.  

Keep checking NobleHour all summer for local volunteer opportunities.

This post was written by NobleHour Special Contributor Natasha Derezinski-Choo.

Volunteering teaches its participants to become more aware of the impact of their actions on the community.  Often when we think of community, we refer to local communities, but volunteering can transcend borders across the global community.  During the summer, many volunteers choose to use their vacation time to help communities in the developing world.  A variety of programs exist to connect volunteers with opportunities abroad, and, though the volunteers have the best intentions, these efforts can sometimes be misguided.  To truly make an impact on a community, volunteers should pay close attention to how their actions will negatively or positively affect a community. 

The benefits of volunteering abroad are almost self-explanatory at face value.  Volunteers gain a global perspective, visit a new part of the world, immerse themselves in a different culture and language, all the while engaging in service and helping developing areas.  It’s easy to see how volunteers would be sold on the idea of going overseas, and it is possible to make a positive impact - just not as easily as it seems.  What some don’t foresee is that one simply can’t just fly off and try to change a community.  It takes careful planning, time, and a real understanding of the current situation in a community before one can attempt to help it.  Before quickly selecting a volunteer program this summer, it’s vital to have a full understanding of how going abroad could have inadvertent negative results and how to avoid these by engaging in meaningful and impactful service projects. 

It’s important to note that many would criticize volunteering abroad because of the lack of sustainability resulting from a long-distance project.  There is a careful balance between helping a community get through the day, or empowering it so that one day it can be self-sufficient.  It’s the difference between bringing food to last a few weeks and helping a community rebuild its irrigation system so it can grow and sell its own food for generations to come.  The latter makes for a service-learning project that is sustainable because both parties are benefiting.  When looking for service opportunities abroad, volunteers should do proper research to ensure that the impact of their service will empower a community by helping lift it from poverty or hardship permanently, rather than temporarily alleviating some of the stress on the community. 

“The harsh truth is that ‘voluntourism’ is more about the self-fulfilment of westerners than the needs of developing nations.” - Ian Birrel, columnist and foreign correspondent.

Critics would also challenge the amount of money being put into volunteerism abroad.  With the hundreds and thousands of dollars people spend for their travel and accommodations while volunteering, many warn against “the dark side of our desire to help the developing world” as put by Ian Birrel in his article “Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do”.  Birrel warns that “orphanages are a booming business trading on guilt [. . .] Those ‘orphans’ might have been bought from impoverished parents [. . . ]An official study found just a quarter of children in these so-called orphanages have actually lost both parents. And these private ventures are proliferating fast.”  The trouble with so many more tourists wanting to enrich their vacations with volunteering is that it becomes a disturbing industry where locals can profit on Westerners’ consciences.  Thousands of organizations encourage people to volunteer with their organization, but often these short excursions do more harm for local communities in the developing world. They take away jobs from skilled locals and give them to volunteers who will pay to work there.  Often the money spent by volunteers to travel abroad would be better used cultivating new industries and building infrastructure to help developing nations grow, rather than keeping them dependent on the developed world.

To avoid these misguided volunteering ventures, be sure to preform in-depth research on the program before hand.  Consider how impactful you want your volunteering to be.  Is the program allowing you to be proactive in the planning and orchestration of the project?  Will the local community truly benefit for years to come? Are you learning new skills, and are the native people learning new skills that will help them help themselves?  What does the developing community already have that can help them, and what do they need to improve their lives? These are challenging questions, and oftentimes it’s easier for one to continue helping in one's own community rather than one abroad. 

Both at home and abroad, volunteers are meant to fill in the missing pieces in a community, not supplement what it can do by itself.  The end result should be giving a foreign community the ability to help itself rather than keeping it dependent on aid from the developed world.  Volunteers should strive to bring the resources and skills that combat the issues hindering a community’s ability to prosper and live better quality lives.  Eventually volunteers have to return home, but the communities they visit and the lives they attempt to touch will remain.  Before they leave, their actions should echo in the lasting improvements helped to achieve.  This summer, continue to track your Noble Impact on NobleHour both at home and abroad.