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Kids Who Care

Spotlight on:

Teaneck High School
Teaneck, NJ

Grades 9—12




Teaneck High School students care about:

Folks in need,
particularly in the military or in poverty;
sharing knowledge & skills

Teaneck High School is no newcomer to the notion of service. For some time, mandatory community service has been a requirement for graduation in this school, which has been transforming much of its service into service-learning. While its three service-learning projects strongly reinforced the curricula of three different disciplines,  one constant emerged: student reflections were of a high quality—creative, thoughtful and mature. 


The first project, “Families Left Behind: A Comparison between Homer’s Odyssey and Deployed National Guard Troops,” involved ninth grade honors English classes drawing comparisons between classical literature and issues in today’s world. The students read the Odyssey and compared the plight of the principal characters with that of American soldiers leaving their families to go to war. To understand the complexity of the situation, the students interviewed National Guard troops and their families. A television production class recorded the interviews, and edited them to create a service-learning documentary.

English teacher Kelley Tolliver summed up the effect of the project: 

“Usually, students groan when they study the Odyssey. This time they really understood how war disrupts a family, and how children are left desolate when a parent is shipped off to battle. Many said their work with families of National Guard troops to be deployed to Iraq was the most significant learning experience they have had in school. It was character-building in action.”


A service project of a different type, “Fairytales and Poetry in French,” had Advanced Placement students creating and illustrating their own fairytales. The books were written in the French language, and shared with a middle school French class who visited the high school. The AP students and middle school class reinforced their learning of a foreign language, but they also realized that, despite the age difference, they were able to connect with one another. As one student put it,

“This was a great way for both of us to sharpen both our language and our people skills.”


The third project, “Feeding the Homeless,” involved students in Chefs II class preparing a meal at the Bergen County Crisis Center’s walk-in kitchen for 150 homeless people. Not only did the students create a menu and use it as a guide when preparing the food, but also they served the meals and interacted with the homeless population.  Student reflections showed that the project actually changed the way that students perceived the homeless by wiping out stereotypical thinking. Many students revealed that they realized that homelessness was not the fault of the individual, and they were now considering getting involved in causes that would help stamp out poverty.

 

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