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Kids Who Care

Spotlight on:

Marlboro High School
Marlboro, NJ

Grades 9—12




Marlboro High School students care about:

Helping children in need and
guiding teens to make wise career choices

Service-learning projects may be major ones, involving an entire school, or they may be smaller in scope, involving just a class or two. The latter emphasis is particularly suited to the high school where the teachers are subject specialists who are constantly looking for new ways to invigorate the curriculum. Technology teacher Donna Galinski reported that Marlboro High School implemented at least seven separate service-learning projects in one year. Eileen Dachnowicz, PACES project coordinator, observed, 

“What is significant about these units is that they encompass many of the electives; students, often excluded from traditional academic and athletic honors now were in the limelight, finding self-esteem, a new sense of worth, and the satisfaction of helping others in the process.”

In “Making Bundles of Love: Making Fleece Blankets and Teddy Bears for Needy Children,” a project developed in the family and consumer sciences department, students clearly developed sewing skills while deriving satisfaction for providing needed materials for the babies at nearby McGuire Air Force Base. Working collaboratively with the fashion classes that contributed the embroidery and the Knitting Club that donated the hats, the students derived great personal satisfaction from the experience.

“Knowing that you have given warmth to a little baby is extremely gratifying,”

observed one student. Also, the quality of the workmanship and adherence to time schedules greatly improved when students knew that their work would benefit the little children.

 “Planning & Implementing a School-wide Career EXPO and Job Fair” project was a student-organized venture done by a marketing class in response to the school’s need to provide important information on career choices. Marlboro’s project went far beyond the scope of most job fairs, where student involvement in the process consists of attending the fair and speaking to potential employers. Rather, the marketing students were engaged in every stage of the event:  planning all phases, contacting potential businesses, providing support on the day of the fair, and following-up with communication and surveys. The students divided the work into committees: planning, publicity; signs; supplies; space allocation; welcoming; follow-up. Using their skills in teamwork, the committees communicated regularly to ensure that the event was successful. The students also had the opportunity to speak to the local businesses to procure employment. The students involved in implementing the event called it

“the best learning experience—equivalent to an on-the- job experience”;

those attending consistently deemed it “a worth-while day,” often citing specific information that they had learned about a career choice.


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