Service Learning
Connecting Expeditions to Service and Community
As part of our community outreach and field work experiences, Harborside puts a significant value on students participating in community service projects. As a result, our students are required to obtain 10 community service hours per year as a middle school student and 15 as a high school student. Although these are minimums, many of our students achieve the 100 hours of community service to qualify for a special Kenosha Unified diploma for service work.
In addition, service learning projects are incorporated into many of our expeditions. Our students host summits that explore issues related to water quality and water conservation; they publish cards and calendars that are sold to raise funds for various non-profit groups; they help to plan and organize the Alzheimer's Walk; and they work with local schools to build school gardens and teach nutrition to elementary school students. Harborside has made over 100 community connections that allow our students to connect to their community and become active citizens.
In addition, service learning projects are incorporated into many of our expeditions. Our students host summits that explore issues related to water quality and water conservation; they publish cards and calendars that are sold to raise funds for various non-profit groups; they help to plan and organize the Alzheimer's Walk; and they work with local schools to build school gardens and teach nutrition to elementary school students. Harborside has made over 100 community connections that allow our students to connect to their community and become active citizens.
Food and Justice for All
The Harborside Community Gardens started in 2009 and has grown to over two acres of raised beds and crops and raised garden beds at fifteen of Kenosha's elementary schools.
The junior expedition, Food and Justice for All, explores the question Where do we get the food that we eat? As part of their junior camp experience, students volunteered their time and helped to pick vegetables that were donated to the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee and spread mulch at several community gardens. They studied soil samples, learned about different types of herbs, and discovered that many vegetables, such as peppers, come in a myriad of varieties.
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The gardens are a place of learning and hard work, as well as a source of healthy food options for Harborside students and many others in the community.
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Senior-to-Senior
The Senior to Senior expedition focuses on the death of the mind before the body, more commonly known as Alzheimer's disease. Students learn about Alzheimer's disease from the scientific side of the disease in physics, the depression and heartache the people affected go through in English, and in psychology they learn about the different parts of the brain that are affected.
The senior class participated in The Walk to End Alzheimer's. Student volunteers assisted with the walk from hanging posters to setting up registration for walk participants. Students were stationed along the route to help guide and cheer on the walkers.
Five-time Olympic gold medalist speed skater Bonnie Blair presented the "Blair Cares" Award to Harborside. This was the first time a group received the award as it is typically presented to a single, outstanding volunteer.
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World of Conflict
Gathering around tables where World War Two veterans waited to share their stories, the sophomore class discovered the hardships faced by those who made sacrifices to fight for the citizens and freedom for the country they love - America, The Home of the Brave.
By creating an atmosphere where veterans can share their stories, the visits create a caring community where veterans can continue to heal and students learn through authentic experience. Over the course of the expedition, students meet upwards of forty veterans who fought in wars such as WWII and Vietnam. The
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veterans' stories are compelling and the impact they have on students is evident in the student-created documentaries that capture each veteran's experiences.
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Windmill Electricity
During the expedition students investigated "Wind Energy" and its impact on the world. In science students took apart a motor and discussed how Electro Magnetism works. They then applied the science of wind turbines and engineering principles to the blade design of a windmill.
In humanities, students investigated environmental issues that affect Africa as well as cultural beliefs. In addition to reading The Boy Who Harnesses the Wind, students wrote letters to their congressmen arguing for continued support to the continent of Africa, and created and performed their own African Folktale to students from a local elementary school. |