CHECHS ~ Service Learning
Service Learning Field Study Information
Service Learning Letter Jacket Information
- Students must have 150 Service Learning Hours to order, see the Service Learning Letter Jacket Requirements link to the right for more info.
- Contact Mrs. Nylen or your advisory teacher with questions.
Important Deadlines
- 2012-2013 Hours Due: Jan. 22nd
- 2012-2013 Reflection Paper and Power Point Due by Jan. 22nd
About Service Learning at CHECHS
Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. As part of our innovative program, the Clear Horizons faculty is on a mission to foster a culture of civic engagement and social responsibility. Service Learning is a very important component of our program and we pride ourselves in instilling the value of service in our students.
At Clear Horizons, the goal is to motivate students and nurture their dreams. Service Learning provides a unique opportunity for students to view subject matter through a real world lens. The purpose of service learning is to learn college and career skills in a particular interest area while serving the community. Service learning goes beyond general community service hours to focus on connecting academic content and skills to community needs. Students at Clear Horizons are required to complete a minimum of 20 Service Learning hours a year. Most of this is done on their own time, although as a school, we try to provide at least one structured opportunity per grade level per year. Current students have completed more than 29,000 service learning hours during their high school careers at Clear Horizons. Seniors for the 2011-2012 school year completed over 11,500 hours in their time here at Clear Horizons. This year our students bagged over 80,000 lbs. of beans for the Houston Food Bank learning about the supply chain for feeding families in the nation's fourth largest city, worked at Armand Bayou Nature Center to help preserve the wetlands learning about the plight of the plant and animal systems that support our area historically and today, and donated their time to the Wings Over Houston Special Show for special needs members of the community learning about working with the public, organization, and work ethic. Research shows that incorporating service learning into classroom curriculum increases critical thinking, communication, civic responsibility, global understanding, academic development, and the ability to work in a team, all of which are skills for a 21st century learner. Our students go through the entire process from plan to reflection, working with their advisory teachers to ensure success. This year we hosted our second Service Learning Reflection Paper Contest. Papers from each advisory were entered. A winner from each grade level was selected and honored at our end of the year awards assembly. Those winners were: Senior- Christina Nguyen, Junior- Bassant ElShazly, Sophomore- Nishtha Shamma, and Freshman- Tom Nguyen. Click on the links of sample papers, we have posted them to give students an idea of what a successful paper looks like. We also honored our top service learning hour earners. Each year we look for students who go above and beyond to serve their communities.
Service Learning Field Study Trips for the 2012-2013 school year are listed above as well as important due dates. Please click the link for the grade level trip to access the trip agenda and permission form. Please click on the links to the right of this page for specific information, forms, and documents. As always this information can also be found on student's Teen Leadership e4 blackboard site.