2010 State Farm® Service-Learning Champion Award

Nominations for the 2010 State Farm Service-Learning Champion Award will open in September 2009.

State Farm supports service-learning as a teaching method that enhances the academic achievement of students while engaging in service to the community. Teachers and parents are usually the primary individuals guiding a young person’s education. Other adults often play a key role in broadening a youth’s formal education through community service-learning activities. State Farm created the Service-Learning Champion Award to acknowledge this non-traditional advocate of service-learning.

The State Farm Service-Learning Champion Award recognizes a business leader, community member or public official who has a passion for engaging youth in service-learning. Nominations for this annual award are based on the following criteria:

Criteria for nominations

• The nominee must be a strong supporter of school-based service-learning as shown by their words, actions and ability to engage youth.
• The nominee must be an adult community member, business leader or public official from outside the traditional service-learning ranks (cannot be a classroom teacher, practitioner, or associate of a service-learning organization).
• The nominee has added significant value to the success of a youth-led service-learning project that addressed a community need(s).
• Nominee must be a resident of the United States (one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia) or Canada (provinces of Alberta, New Brunswick, or Ontario.)

Examples of service-learning champions

Bill Johnson owns a small contracting business.  Through research and interviews in a social studies class, students determined the need for a fire station in their community.  Bill became involved by helping the students share their concerns with the mayor and city council.  Once the project was approved, he helped them raise money, taught them construction skills, provided specialized equipment for the project, and even got the media involved.  Without his support and guidance, this project would not have been possible.

Mary Smith is a retiree and volunteer in a middle school library.  She was instrumental in sharing information about available service-learning grants with teachers and students in the district.  Once a group of students had researched possibilities, they submitted their proposal for improving pedestrian safety.  When they received the grant, Mary assisted the various classes working on the project by sharing skills she had learned in a large corporation where she had been employed.  Her assistance ranged from helping students develop presentations for younger classes and the community to providing guidelines for meeting with local government officials to implement crosswalk signs.

State Farm Service-Learning Champion Award

2009 State Farm Service-Learning Champion Award Recipient

State Farm Service-Learning Champion Award Recipients from Prior Years