Two national in-home interview surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization and information from a national workshop conference attended by 70 teen volunteers from 28 states and 200 teachers and adult leaders indicate that about three-fifths of youth aged 12 to 17 volunteer an average of just over 3 hours a week. The most frequent volunteer…

Continuing a decade-long trend, findings from recent annual surveys of first-year college students have documented their participation in community service as high-school seniors at record high levels (Higher Education Research Institute, 1999, 2000, 2001). Eighty-one percent of the 2000 respondents reported volunteering during senior year,…

This essay addresses how to cope with several potential barriers to implementing effective service-learning projects. The discussion builds on experiences of developing and refining service-learning in upper-division communication courses. Difficulties arise in three areas: the institutional and physical setting, student attitudes, and community…

Describes the experience of a high school student in Swaziland who donated time to accompany institutionalized children on weekly outings. Discusses his initial repulsion by the children's physical impairments and his development of compassion which grew out of his experiences with one young boy, Mbuso. (GEA)

Participation in extracurricular activities by 124 secondary students who had exceptionalities was studied at 8 public high schools in an urban area of northeastern Ohio. Questionnaires were completed by students who participated in extracurricular activities and those who did not. Study variables were: student's gender and grade level; type of…

This practicum report describes a volunteer program that was established to resolve staff shortages in a high school media center. Three target groups were involved. The first target group was composed of the current adult volunteers. The second target group was made up of teachers who served their required duty in the media center. The third…

Methods for conducting peer voter registration of high school students cover establishing a permanent voter registration committee and identifying and registering eligible students. The permanent voter registration committee, made up of student body representatives, class representatives, and selected teachers, guarantees comprehensive…

Describes a program that is part of the Pupil Researcher Initiative (PRI) where volunteer Ph.D. students visit schools to help bring the excitement and wonder of science and engineering research to the classroom. The purpose of the Researchers in Residence program is to bring students and teachers in schools into contact with research scientists…

This booklet is intended for Ohio high school volunteers who assist in special education programs and who are members of high school chapters of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). The first section considers the decision to become a volunteer and includes two surveys concerning attitudes toward persons with disabilities and attitudes and…

The Student Library Assistants of Wisconsin (SLAW) have prepared this handbook to explain several phases of their student media assistant program, which seeks to organize clubs of high school student volunteers to work in school and public libraries. The handbook provides suggestions for organizing local groups, in terms of constitution,…

Describes utilizing secondary students and college undergraduates of the United States to teach illiterate adults to read by returning their stories (oral history) to them in writing allowing literacy lessons on subjects known to the adult. (ERB)

This paper examines studies that have investigated academic learning outcomes in service learning, identifies unanswered questions in assessing academic efforts, and offers guidelines to evaluate content gains in courses that integrate service learning. Research shows that peer tutoring increases achievement scores for both the tutors and the…

The concept of volunteerism is not well known in Japan and the word itself, "borantia" is borrowed from English. However, voluntary programs do exist in Japan. This report attempts to describe the way in which volunteerism operates (or does not operate) in Japan by discussing the organization of Japanese society, its implications for…

A peer counseling program was instituted in a California high school to: (1) expand the guidance services of the school by utilizing trained students; (2) make school more meaningful for the peer counselors through personal growth and involvement; and (3) determine the feasibility of implementing peer counseling projects in other high schools in…

A staff member of the Outdoor Adventures Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln relates his experience in supervising the construction of the first low ropes course in Yucatan, Mexico. During 1994, two staff members visited Yucatan to explore trip possibilities for the program and to inquire about a future conference location. While leading…