The story of stuff project

Check this out:  http://www.storyofstuff.org/

SUMMER NEWS

Summer Volunteering

The Jamal family explored volunteer opportunities at Boys and Girls Club and City Arts.  This is the first time we are looking at family volunteering because one of the girls is 12 and the other one 14.  Most organizations have a rule-due to liability reasons-that no one under 14 can volunteer without an adult present.  Some require volunteers no younger than 16 year old.  All organizations have background checks for volunteers working with children.  Most organizations require an adult supervising volunteer teens from the school or organization the teens are coming from because that person will be the first respondent in case of emergencies and for liability issues.

The girls will attend a preliminary visit with the arts coordinator at Boys and Girls Club and keep us posted on their selection regarding where they will choose to volunteer as a family in July.  Thank you to Mrs. Jamal for being willing to explore  volunteering with the girls.  We look forward to updates and pictures of our first family direct service memories in OKC. 

We had examples like SOW LOVE of family volunteering in Zambia and other parts of the world, but we have not documented intentional intergenerational family summer volunteering, a great new volunteering frontier.  Thank Jamals and A. Jay, Director of Boys and Girls Club for the opportunity to explore this possibility. 

Class of 2016 is begining to explore summer service.  Great start Jack T. and Delwin R.

Grace W. served over 100 hours at Shiloh Camp.  Following a family tradition, she will be the third member of the family to qualify for Presidential Award for work at Shiloh Camp.  Nice job, Gracie!

Many Cyclones, including YAC leaders volunteered at the Casady Summer Football Camp: Blake G., Drew C. 5, Clark H., Gary W., Denver J., Trainor C., DJ R., Sam K., Bobby S., Alex P., and James B.  Great job, guys! 

Went to Boys and Girls Club and saw Jennifer I. who has been volunteering @ the club since school ended.  WOW!!!  Jennifer loves it at Boys and Girls Club.  A. Jay, its director, is very impressed with Jennifer's commitment, who is first to arrive in the morning, before 7:00 a.m.  Mrs. Clay, OKC teachers and Oklahoma Green Schools committee members will be volunteering at B&G Club in the second week in July.  B&G Club is considering being the first Green after school option and participating in the International Day of Peace, 11 days of Unity as well as having club members in the first Youth LEAD OKC, grant funding provided.

Grace G., Nelson E., Mrs. Gliva and Mrs. Clay volunteered at the Stars and Stripes Regatta June 30th and July 1st.

Katie H. and Mrs. Clay visited City Arts and talked to the Education Director who stated the need for summer camp CIT's.  Former Casady service-learner, Cornelia P. is now part of the paid staff at City Arts.  Go Cornelia!  Mrs. Clay will volunteer at the Video production class the week of July 15-20.

VISITING WITH FORMER YAC SENIOR CHAIRS
Kaija W. visited with Mrs. Clay in June.  Kaija shared how much being part of a service-learning course and her YAC leadership helped her in college where she has been an outstanding servant leader.  Kaija will write an article to share in this blog soon.  Another senior YAC Chair, Sunita Darbe just published her first professional article.  Mrs. Clay will see Sunita in early August and we will have more news. 

A REQUEST FROM A TEEN

My name is Lauren Wethers, and I'm an intern with Volunteen Nation http://www.volunteennation.org/, a youth-led national non-profit organization spreading the spirit of volunteerism. Volunteen's goal is to involve more youth in their communities and make it easier for them to find volunteer opportunities. The organization recently expanded nationally and is “by teens, and for teens”.

We would immensely appreciate the promotion of Volunteen Nation to the students at your school. Not only can they find unique service opportunities that are close to home and fit their interests, but their service will also benefit themselves, the community, and your school. Please inform your students of our website to assist them in finding volunteer opportunities.

Youth volunteering promotes a healthy lifestyle, teaches life skills, improves the community, and gives the volunteers a lifelong work ethic. According to Volunteering in America, education and youth service institutions are the most popular organizations through which teenagers and adolescents volunteer. This makes a school an ideal place to encourage youth to serve their communities.

To learn more about Volunteen Nation, please check out this recent Family Circle article: http://bit.ly/wVyMqU

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Lauren Wethers lauren@volunteennation.org

Youth Volunteers: Entrepreneurs of Social Change

From Wikipidea

Defining Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurs are people who have noticed a need in their community or somewhere in the world, and have come up with a way of remedying that issue through the application of market principles. The remedy could be creative, innovative, “out of the box,” etc... since most entrepreneurs tend to think in this manner. In general, social entrepreneurs did not start out with the goal of making money, but in the long run, switch to a for-profit business. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many social entrepreneurs are faced with an issue in their youth that motivates them to do something about the problem in adulthood, such as poverty, sanitation, etc.

Is this social entrepreneurship through dance?

TIDE 2012

What? TIDE Conference (Teen Identity & Diversity Education) by Youth LEAD (Leaders Engaging Across Differences) http://youthleadonline.org/
Where and When? Boston, Mass, May 25-May 27, 2012
Who? Casady Service-Learning (Carmen), Casady YAC-Youth LEAD OKC (Sidney)
Why? Learn about Youth LEAD and TIDE experientially.

The conference was student-led with logistical support from Youth LEAD office and liability responsibility from Youth LEAD CEO.

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Friday, May 25, 2012
4:00-6:00 Registration and Check In: Youth and adults went out of their way to make newcomers feel welcome. TIDE facilitators were responsible for family groups and entertainment via sports, dance, songs, music, belly dancing, etc. during free time. TIDE youth made everything run on time with plenty of food and drinks. TIDE graduates assisted with checking in, waking-up participants, sending people to bed-not very efficiently-, watching for safety and rules adherence after hours.  The rest of the logistics, family groups etc., by youth with support from office staff.


There was a huge group from Sharon High School. Others participants trained by Youth LEAD presented on Sunday along with Youth LEADers and office staff. Sunday presenters: Brooklyn Arab American Association of New York (amazing group-first time, Linda Sarsour, CEO, linda@ArabAmericanNY.org ; www.ArabAmericanNY.org), North Providence Youth Commission, Children of Well (Story Telling), Rhode Island for Community and Justice Youth Action Council (Jayme Dale Mallindine, leadership@ricj.org ; www.ricj.org ; 401-467-1717 x 100) Lincoln School, Social Action Leaders of Beaver Country Day School, , Dorchester Bay Youth Force. There were observant participants like Suzanne Guthrie, The Temple of Understanding, Director of Youth and Adult Programs, suzanne@templeofunderstanding.org ; www.templeofunderstanding.org  with teams of teens. I do not know the exact number but 130+ participants might be a good estimation.

6:00-6:45 Dinner and other meals: All you can eat, Northeastern University Cafeteria.

7:00-7:30 Opening Ceremonies: Welcome by youth conference chairs -Manal, Bridget and Amal (Help us construct TIDE as you imagine it to be-ability to culminate conversations with powerful clarifying questions) and Janet (Cultivate a spirit of curiosity to bring us closer to world peace.)

8:30-11:00 Evening Activities:  Holi was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Everyone with similar fun identity for a few minutes.  After showering from holi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi, we had family group time. 

Participants maybe got some sleep this evening. I was so tired, at 11:00 I went to bed. Maybe formal evaluations- along with the informal reflection for the day- could be delivered and completed at this time.  I also wish we could have had a list of the people in the adult group with contact information to stay in touch as well as an introduction of our Saturday Youth LEAD facilitators to bring home.  Also at this time, I wish we could have received our schedule for Sunday.  It would have made Sunday less hectic. 


Saturday, May 26, 2012
8:00-9:15: Breakfast: Family group leaders made sure everyone was at breakfast.  I saw them knocking at doors to wake-up people.  Responsible teens making other teens do the right thing!  Very nice!

9:15-9:45 Saturday Opening: Schedule logistics, location of rooms, introduction of Youth LEAD facilitators and workshops location.  This was hectic!  My "elevator speech of this day, "To receive an experiential introduction of the Youth LEAD Program from Youth LEADERS."   Shreya and Puya, Youth LEADERs, did a fantastic job facilitating the first three adult workshops.  They were "reflective, connecting facilitators" who never lost the innocence of their youth especially during problem solving times; transitions from one area to the other due to time constrains or personal leadership, learning modality and stronger personal intelligences styles.  It was a fantastic experience to have competent, confident, and fun teen facilitators. I return to OKC with greater energy to face the issue of finding the money needed to bring Youth LEAD to OKC.

10:00-11:15:             Workshop One: Reflection: What is Identity?  Conversations: Who you are?  How you got there?

11:15-12:30:             Workshop Two: Connection: Guidelines for Interaction; Trust building activities: ticket to talk, paper clip activity-competition, hopes concerns fears, listening, clarifying questions, kinds of conversations, debate vs. dialog.  Process guided by giant post-it notes and a lot of pre-planning, a year of pre-planning!

12:45-1:45                Lunch

2:00-3:15                  Workshop Three: Action We chose to dialog on Race Relations, other choices I remember were immigration, teen adult relationships, gender?.  The activities took us from where we were to discovery and desire to act.  A statement forever in my heart:  How can I respond my 10 year old's question, Why people hate me?

At the end, we received plastic containers which we labeled with our name and how we perceived others view us.  At the end of the workshop, we were asked to write a word or a sentence about how we viewed each participant and placed it in the container labeled with their name. It was easier than I expected because the time together and the quality of our conversations and clarifying questions gave us background to write one meaningful word/sentence about every person. When I read mine the kindness of my Octupi family group brought tears to my eyes.

4:45-6:00            Workshop Four: Let's Do This: The Guide to Flawless Facilitation: Loved Bridgit's opening activity of drawing our ideal facilitator and the similarities in what we need from a competent and engaging facilitator: Big eyes, ears; a mind with copious knowledge, big embracing arms/hands/fingers and a small mouth.  It gave a taste of the high level training we will be bringing to OKC.  The handout provided was good. It was impressive the rigor of attendance taking and youth value for proper introductions.  I was also impressed by the confidence and willigness of youth to participate in all activities.

6:15-7:15            Dinner

7:30-8:30            Keynote Speakers: Jamele Adams, Usman Hameedi Poetry-4-Identity/Diversity: Eye and mind opening poetry.  Great job teens bringing an engaging set of speakers to inspire people of all ages to wonder, question and perhaps act. 

8:30-11:00            Evening Activities: Fair Haven and Family Groups.  The Octupi were so tired we talked about our day impressions and went to bed.  Everyone  complemented facilitators and workshops!  Other family groups, did they go to bed???

Sunday, May 27, 2012

8:00-8:45 Breakfast, Sunday Opening:  Some groups had to leave after workshop three.  The directions for the day were given at the cafeteria.  Next year, I hope the youth team will consider given directions during family groups or allocate time for Sunday Opening at a less noisy room, like they did Saturday.  Maybe end at 6:00 p.m. instead of 5:00 p.m. (logistics with returning trains might be a hindering factor??) I heard that the location of TIDE might be moved to another university next year.  I wonder what Sidney heard.  I am looking forward to her conclusions.

 9:00 - 10:15:  Workshop Session One:  Youth Voice: Change through Youth and Adult Partnerships:  Diana M. from North Providence Youth Commission did a fantastic job facilitating despite finding out that she had misplaced her cell phone right before her presentation.  She did a Prezi presentation: Find a support adult that is responsive.  Find a way to work with unresponsive ones. Have a plan.  Talk to administrators to have time, place, and plenty of food! I gave Diana my card and requested to consider sending her presentation or sharing it via SKYPE with Youth LEAD OKC and Casady YAC.  I hated the name game because I cannot remember names, but the kids in the workshop insured everyone's success. I wish I had their contact information!

 10:30-11:00  Family group preparations for closing ceremony presentations:  We all prepared a presentation of what TIDE had meant to us as a group and individually.  It was amazing how a couple of days had united us despite our differences. 

 11:15-12:30 Workshop Session Two: Acceptance Through Story Telling: Adrya and Ilyssa from Children of the Well http://www.interfaithstory.org/children-at-the-well.shtml  did a great job helping us understand how their group starts interfaith dialogs using story telling.  I was sorry not to complete evaluations for this group because they were fantastic.  I am going to talk to OKC Interfaith Groups to see if we have something similar in OKC.  The amazing thing is that our facilitators empowered one participant into turning the The Three Little Pigs story into an anti-bullying story.

12:45-1:45 Lunch, farewells started. It was like we were loosing long time friends. Sidney left after workshop 3.

2:00-3:15 Workshop Session Three: Trust, the Building Block of Tolerance, Understanding and Progress  Blessing (great handwriting), Justin, Danielle, and Kelly  from North Providence Youth Commission did a great job at a difficult time, the last workshop of the day.  They guided a discussion of how trusting are we? Why? What barriers, fears and challenges do we have?  What role do appearances and stereotypes play in our trust conditioning? What is the process to trust?  How is the connection of trust and forgiveness? The workshop was very interactive and the kids asked me if I wanted them to present via skype like I had asked Diane about her Youth Voice presentation.  I said yes.  I gave them my card and I hope Kelly-Kangaroo will contact me in September.  I did not complete an evaluation for this group.  They were excellent!

 3:30-5:00 Closing ceremonies: Family group presentations and personal testimonials Creative, moving, inspiring. The kids did fantastic presentations.  The adult group was prepared, but many of the members had to leave early. Exmaples of personal testimonials  Chose TIDE over prom; you made me discover how I really matter, passing the light-if one of us starts using what we learned, we will make a difference; you inspired me to be a better person, a more confident person, you empowered me to be insecure no more.

5:00-7:00 Check out  They left us a follow-up poem to Where I am From by George Ella Lyon.  I have not written mine yet.

TIDE is one of my highlights of Summer 2012!

Last days of school

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2011-2012 YAC Reflection

What was YAC's role-mission- in 2011-2012?

YAC became an intergenerational service council. http://www.casady.org/podium/default.aspx?t=29893&rc=0.  It stood for You-nite A Community.  Its mission was to motivate Cyclones to find their passion to help our local, national or global communities and support their efforts.

When? Where? How many times did YAC meet?

YAC met six times in 2011 and  four in 2012.  From September to January: Mondays during B-block in conflict with STUCO, Environmental Club and Advisories.  From January to May: Fridays during B-Block in conflict with the sport schedule.  Students received service hours for participating in meetings aiming to support or implement service projects.  Hours were certified at an assessment meeting in January and YAC members were requested to make appointments for final reflection and certification of hours in May.  Hours from January to May are still to be reflected.

What did YAC do?
August-September 2011
The first YAC project was the International Day of Peace.  It was a school wide awareness of the 11 days of global unity(http://www.wetheworld.org/) from September 11 to September 21 (International Day of Peace: http://internationaldayofpeace.org/) .  YAC had a SKYPE conversation with International Day of Peace creator, Jeremy Gilley about his global initiative PEACE ONE DAY (http://peaceoneday.org/). 

YAC and the service-learning office collaborated with the Oklahoma City University’s International Day of Peace Festival.  Pinwheels in Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese were made in UD Foreign language classes and planted around our lake the morning of 9/21 http://pinwheels-4-peaceinlanguageclasses.blogspot.com/).  Pinwheels were donated to the OCU festival in the afternoon.  The Casady Pinwheels found homes at non-profit organizations around town. Khadija'12 was the YAC facilitator for the International Day of Peace Festival at OCU.  She planted pinwheels and distributed Six Billion Paths to Peace t-shirts at the OCU festival.   YAC connected to the UD chorus and orchestra and arranged for inspirational chapel performances in honor of the International Day of Peace. The Program Director and the President of San Francisco based Shinnyo-en Foundation visited with YAC members around campus on 9/22. The Shinnyo-en Foundation provided Six Billion Paths to Peace (http://www.sef.org/projects/six-billion-paths-to-peace/) t-shirts for all divisions in 2011 and for Middle, Lower and Primary division’s out of uniform in 2012 in celebration of the International Day of Peace (http://serviceapathtopeace.blogspot.com/).  The service-learning office brought Hope Trunks to all divisions from the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum and the 5th grade classes made "May Peace Prevail on Earth" mandalas and planted a seedling of the survival tree in front of the middle division on 9/21.

October-November

The second YAC project was the Casady Cans Do Food Drive, Nov 7-11, a collaborative effort between YAC and STUCO http://cyclonesagainsthunger.blogspot.com/ .  Chandler'12 and Zainab'12 facilitated this project.  Per YAC request, Casady service-learning provided transportation for Cyclones to volunteer @ the Food Bank on Saturdays from the first week of October until November 12 when Cyclones sorted donations from the Students Against Hunger Food Drive. Casady Upper Division donated 5,052 cans and $563.07 providing 6,368 meals to hungry Oklahomans during the winter time.  On November 12, 2011, YAC and OKC volunteers @ the Food Bank packed 770 cases of food with 22,438 meals for hungry Oklahomans resulting from the citywide Students Against Hunger Food Drive. 

 In October, YAC members also collaborated with the girls’ volleyball team’s Dig Pink Volleyball (http://www.side-out.org/tag/dig-pink-volleyball/) project collecting over $3,000 to help breast cancer research. Cassidy'12 was the YAC facilitator of that collaboration.

December

The third YAC project was a collaboration with the art club.  Cyclones made 80 stockings for first grade classes at Britton Elementary and delivered the stockings filled with art supplies and healthy snacks before the Xmas break.  Zainab'12 was the YAC facilitator of the collaboration between YAC and the art club.

January

REFLECTION: The first three YAC meetings of 2012 took place in the month of January.  YAC reflected hours and planned our MLK Day of service (http://mlkday.gov/). Our guest speakers the week before MLK Day were Casady youth leaders with inspiring service projects: Knitting for Troops, Sow Love, and Land of Children, Global Education Service-Learning Project in Ollantaytambo, Peru.  YAC also hosted MD and UD speeches by Dr. Cheryl Steele on steward leadership.  Dr. Steele was hosted by YAC member, Emily B'12.

MLK DAY: YAC collaborated with Chandler and her Knitting for Troops project and offered the opportunity to the Upper and Middle Divisions of making care packages for soldiers from 9:00-11:00 at the Student Center on January 16, MLK Day. 26 people participated in the MLK Day 2012 service opportunity. Chandler sent over $3,000 in carefully selected goodies to Oklahoma soldiers in Afganistan with inspirational notes made by MD and LD students in each package.  Chandler received heartwarming thank you notes from soldiers from time to time.  Her project was made possible due to grants from Do Something.org.  In April, Chandler was surprised as the receipient of a $20,000 scholarship to college from Do Something and Footlocker Scholar Athlete Program.

February

February meetings were very short, but brought new opportunities for YAC to make a difference. Cassidy'12 hosted Aly Akers, a former state, regional, national, and world champion baton twirler. She is currently the feature twirler at OSU, where she is a Business/Pre-Law major and is also Miss OSU. Aly will compete in the 2012 Miss Oklahoma Pageant in June. Her platform for Miss Oklahoma is P.A.S.T. – Prevent and Stop Tormenting, is an anti-bullying campaign. She speaks to schools throughout the state on behalf of P.A.S.T.  Aly spoke to the Upper Division during Chapel.  Aly also shared a few minutes with YAC students who attended the YAC meeting after a YAC picture with Aly was taken. YAC made Aly feel so welcomed, she stated that if she were a teen, Casady would have been her high school of choice.  More information about Aly’s project at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/PAST-Prevent-And-Stop-Tormenting/162854593764584.

In February, Khadija'12 and Zainab'12 decided to collaborate with the Respect Diversity Foundation Annual Symbol Exhibit. They reflected on making a mural depicting YAC's interpretation of the Charter for Compassion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktlwCPDd94 .  The project did not become a reality because the administration did not grant permission for YAC students to meet 3-lunch times and B-blocks to view the Charter, discuss ideas, and create the mural under the facilitation of artist and CEO of the Silence Foundation, Mrs. Patt Webb.  The service-learning office transfered Mrs. Patt Webb's services to Mrs. Crossno's 7th grade classes and provided a $500 grant for the MD SEE Program since 7th grade English and History students were involved in this service-learning project in the curriculum.

Finally in February, YAC collaborated with STUCO at the Make A Wish dodge ball tournament.  See pictures and videos of the tournament at http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/2012/03/stucos-make-wish-b-day-party-for.html.  YAC entered TEAM PEACE with proceeds generated by the Fall Fest fundraiser.  Service-Learning bought food for TEAM PEACE members to support STUCO fundraiser for Make a Wish at the tournament.  YAC also sold left over candy from the Make a Wish fundraiser at the UD and MD during A and B blocks. Blake'13 was the YAC leader of this collaboration.

April

National NYLC Conference: In the month of April, YAC member Salman'14, junior Alex and STUCO member Shiva'14 attended the NYLC Conference in Minneapolis. http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/2012/04/national-service-learning-conference.html . The focus of the conference for the Casady group were attendance to academic rigor service-learning,  and youth leadership in peace and green initiatives to implement at Casady next year.

National Volunteer Week-April 15-22:  YAC presented a full set of activities to the administration to turn National Volunteer Week into a fundraising week similar to BALTO or SWINE week in other schools.  The ideas were generated by freshmen YAC members under the leadership of Jessica'15 and Rebekah'13.  YAC was only allowed an off of uniform and an ice cream celebration on Friday during B-block. The Service-Learning Office ordered and delivered Presidential Service Awards on Friday, April 20th.  The CPO and Environmental club sponsored the celebration as students were also encouraged to ride a bike to school or carpool as part of Earth Day celebration. Zainab'12 was the YAC facilitator of this connection.

Global Youth Service Day-Earth Day; April 20-22: As part of YAC's celebration of Global Youth Service Day, Salman'14 represented YAC and the Environmental Club at Earth Day Nichols Hills Festival.  Salman advocated "green living" by motivating participants to take carbon footprint surveys.  YAC members also volunteered at Rebuilding Together Work Day and the YWCA race to stop sexual violence during Global Youth Service Day.  Finally, YAC collaborate with YAC member Seondre'15 Eagle Scout Project as he replaced 18 windows at a Rebuilding Together home. http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-service-in-okc-community.html

May

In May, YAC collaborated with Emily B.'12 and her Relay for Life Project. http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/2012/05/relay-for-life-2012.html. Salman gave the YAC Relay team its name: You-nited Against Cancer.  Service Learning made a financial contribution and invited teachers and YAC members without a team to join.  Salman, Mrs. Clay, Mrs. Linn, Mr. Stonestreet, Mrs. Seitter, Miss Detering, Mrs. Small and the security guards on duty attended the Relay for a few hours or the whole night sponsored by the YAC team.  The 2012 Relay for Life surpassed its goal of $30,000 for cancer research.  The Relay 2012 had 233 participants,  23 teams and raised $32,174. 

Also in May, senior YAC members made celebratory goodie bags for Presidential Award Winners led by Zainab'12 who made lovely bows for each bag.  The goodies in the bags were courtesy of the CPO and were delivered on May 16, 2012. 

As the final official YAC act of the year,  YAC member Sidney'15 represented Casady YAC and Youth Lead OKC at the TIDE Conference in Boston during Memorial Weekend.  See Mrs. Clay's reflection of TIDE @ ,http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/2012/05/tide-2012.html

Relay for Life 2012 Surpassed $30,000 goal! CONGRATULATIONS!

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Special thanks to Mr. Stonestreet for his help all night with set-up and clean-up. Thank you also to Mrs. Linn for her participation as well as her help making sure the building was ready for Saturday morning activities. The YAC team was finally composed by Mrs. Clay (walked on behalf of the team all night), Salman who was present at the Opening, Mr. Stonestreet (worked all night), Mrs. Linn (helped evening and early morning), and Mrs. Seitter. We also saw Mrs. Warden in early evening and Miss Detering. Thank you faculty and support staff for your collaboration with this project.