Category Archives: Opportunities

08.05.09
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New STEM-Focused Service Learning Funds Available for Middle Schools

From Engaged for Success: Service Learning as a Tool for High School Drop Out Prevention (PDF)

From Engaged for Success: Service Learning as a Tool for High School Drop Out Prevention (PDF)

Youth Service America is looking to fund middle-school based service learning projects incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula.

Middle school teachers, administrators, service learning coordinators and after-school staff in select states can apply for $5000 in funding to engage kids in grades six through eight in a semester-long service-learning project geared towards environmental issues.

The grants, called STEMester of Service Grants, aim to address community problems in states with the highest school dropout rates while encouraging kids to explore careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

According to the website, environmental concerns can include green space availability, health effects, climate change, and Continue reading →

08.03.09
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The British Council Calls All Young Activists to Apply for Global Changemakers Program

2007 Global Changemakers Group

2007 Global Changemakers Group

From 1-21 August The British Council is accepting applications from people all over the world ages 16-19 to become Global Changemakers at the Fourth Annual Global Youth Summit, which will take place in the United Kingdom, November 15-21.

A Global Changemaker, according to the British Council program, is a

“young activist operating through a range of national and international networks, who is able to influence his or her community as well as speak to authority with confidence and passion. Changemakers are not afraid to challenge either accepted ways of thinking or their convictions. Changemakers are forward looking, they take their ideas and put them into practice. A Changemaker accepts difference, is flexible, is able to take on new ideas and skills and will communicate them to others.” Continue reading →

07.24.09
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Princeton to Launch an International Service Year for Pre-College Students

Princeton will send admitted first-year students out into the world for 9 months of international public service.

Princeton student Zach Ruchman teaching in a Vietnam Classroom

Princeton student Zach Ruchman teaching in a Vietnam classroom

This fall, Princeton’s new Bridge Year Program aims to offer 20 admitted students a chance to live in a different culture, develop maturity and an international perspective, and a commitment to public service before coming back to Princeton to start their freshman year in the fall of 2010.

The program will teach the participants about host country health and safety, offer them language instruction, and place them in “humble service” projects at grassroots organizations, clinics, hospitals, schools, and orphanages. The goal is for participants to take on roles appropriate to their age and experience, and in jobs “that could not be held by local workers.” — My read on that last goal is they want to prevent the high school grads from displacing local jobs, not to imply that local workers are incapable of work that Princeton-bound kids can handle.

The Bridge Year participants will live in home stays, in communities near a few other Bridge Year participants, and near in-country support staff from partner organizations experienced with coordinating international volunteers.

Best of all, Princeton picks up most of the program costs — though participants who can afford it are responsible for flight Continue reading →

07.22.09
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Gifts of Service for Nelson Mandela’s Birthday

Photo from Flickr user Christine van der Merwe

Adapted from a post originally on the Idealist.org homepage blog by Julia Smith.

In honor of Nelson Mandela’s birthday, the organization 46664 and the Nelson Mandela Foundation have deemed Saturday, July 18, Mandela Day. On the website, organizers wrote: “Mr. Mandela has spent 67 years making the world a better place. We’re asking you for 67 minutes.”

People around the world pledged more than 157,375 minutes of service this past weekend, and it’s not too late for you to get involved and volunteer (also check out Serve.gov‘s volunteer opportunities).

In addition to the push for service around the globe, there were major celebrations in South Africa and the United States. According to this blog post, the South Africa-based event were held in Newtown and featured music, dance, and speeches; meanwhile, a concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York included performances from among others, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, and one of my favorite South African groups, Freshlyground. Organizers last week tweeted that “The 2010 Mandela Day concert will take place in Madrid. Official announcement has just taken place in New York.”

Learn more about Mandela Day at mandeladay.com.