The Coventry High School library was transformed
Tuesday evening from a quiet place of study to a
vibrant place of presentation.
Teachers from each of the Coventry elementary
schools, both middle schools and the high school
as well as students, parents, administrators and
members of the school committee gathered to hear
about this year's Service Learning Projects.
Three years ago, the Coventry School district
received a $10,000 grant from the Kids
Consortium to develop service learning projects.
Service learning, according to Dolores O'Rourke,
the co-chair of the Kids Consortium Committee
for Coventry, is a teaching strategy that
connects classroom learning with real life.
Teachers at any level in the Coventry school
district can propose a service learning project
idea to the Kids Consortium committee in hopes
of obtaining funds to develop their idea. There
are three criteria in the fund application
process that, O'Rourke said, must be met for the
committee to consider the application.
"We get so many applicants, each one with such
good ideas, it is not an easy task for us to
choose," O'Rourke said. "The first thing that we
look for during eliminations is that the
applicants have met the three main criteria."
The three criteria are academic integrity,
student ownership and apprentice citizenship.
"Academic integrity really focuses on the
different strategies used in the development of
the project so as to incorporate the multiple
learning styles of different students," O'Rourke
said. "There really has to be student ownership
of the project, too, for us to consider it. I
mean it has to be their idea and student-driven.
The final part that we look for when considering
applications is if there is a real community
need."
All the projects that received funding through
the Kids Consortium grant were presented on
Tuesday evening so spectators could get a grasp
of how the money from the grant was being used.
Blackrock Elementary School presented its
project on instituting foreign languages
instruction at the elementary school level.
Western Coventry School talked about its career
day project and Flat River Middle School
discussed its anti-vandalism campaign.
The woodworking class from Coventry High School
presented its efforts to improve the conditions
at local elderly housing facilities by replacing
wooden ramps and installing railings, and the
child development class explained how it was
hoping to discourage teenage pregnancy through
the "Think It Over" program.
Kimberly Fortin, a 10th-grader at Coventry High,
approached the podium at the front of the room
filled with people with a life-like baby in her
arms. She explained how her classroom teacher,
Kathy Hudson, applied for funding through the
Kids Consortium to purchase the life-like dolls
for the class's proposed service learning
project.
"We take the dolls with us and we go into the
middle schools to talk with girls age 11 to 13
on the dangers of teen pregnancy," Fortin said.
"The occurrence is steadily increasing and we
felt that we should do something about it."
"We have the girls keep the baby dolls in their
care for a certain period of time to teach them
that having a child, especially at this age, is
not fun," she said. "There are different keys
that they have to use for feeding, burping,
panicking and upset stomach. It is not easy to
get used to and our research shows that programs
like this, using these dolls, have been proven
to help."
The dolls cost an estimated $300 apiece, which
is an amount that O'Rourke said the school
budget just cannot allocate.
With this being the last year in the three-year,
$10,000 grant from Kids Consortium, O'Rourke
said that her committee, as well as the entire
school district, is hopeful that the grant will
be awarded again.
'There are definitely no guarantees, but the
district as a whole would love to see it
reinstated for another three years," she said.