National winner: service learning inspires students: Fort Worth Independent School District / Fort Worth, Texas.

A service-learning program designed to motivate students to stay in school led to Fort Worth Independent School District being named the National Civic Star Award winner for 2007. The winning program, Service Through Active Rotarians and Students (STARS), was developed and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fort Worth in conjunction with the school district.

The program combines "Service Above Self," the Rotary organization's creed, with curriculum-based learning. In its research before establishing the program, the Rotary Club found that service-based learning helps students build stronger academic skills, helps foster a sense of civic responsibility, develops leadership skills and builds self-esteem.

The first step in founding the STARS program was to establish in coordination with the schools a volunteer force of Rotarians to serve as advisers in social studies classes over two months to discuss what community service is and to challenge students to perform a service project. The next step was to guide each class in selecting an agency with which to work, and the third involved Rotarians and students working together in a day of service. The fourth was an essay contest to give students an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and relate their observations.

Nonprofit agencies submitted projects, and the students chose the ones that appealed to them. The classroom advisers provided information about the agencies and their impact on the community.

The service projects included:

* Greeting departing and returning military troops at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport's USO facility.

* Helping learning-disabled children by reading to them and working with them on projects at an early childhood education center for children with Down Syndrome called Kinderfrogs School.

* Planting and pruning flower beds at Union Gospel Mission, a homeless shelter.

* Participating in a "Seeds of Hope" project, planting flower beds on the campus of Samaritan House, a permanent housing location for HIV-positive individuals and their family members.

* Cleaning a playground and assembling a storage shed and cots.

* Serving lunch to preschoolers at Camp Fire USA First Texas Council.

* Assembling food boxes at the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

This year Rotarians invited 296 eighth-grade students at Riverside Middle School to participate in the inaugural STARS program. The breakdown among participants was 4 percent Asian, 8 percent African American, 81 percent Hispanic and 7 percent white. Ninety-one percent of the participants qualified for free or reduced-price lunch. Twenty-six percent were considered limited in English proficiency, and 11 percent received special education services.

Over the duration of the project, 28 Rotarians representing 26 companies and organizations volunteered 509 hours to ensure the project's success. Students gave 888 hours. Twenty-six companies and organizations provided financial and in-kind support.

The essay contest that students participated in after projects were completed was judged by the Rotary education committee. The essay topic was "What Service Above Self Means to Me." The student whose essay best captured the "Service Above Self" theme read his essay at a Rotary meeting, and The Fort Worth Star Telegram, the local newspaper, published the essay with a photograph of the writer and a story about the program on the back of the editorial section on a Sunday. Circulation that day was 329,000. The day the program had been announced the newspaper ran a story about it in its local section on a Friday, when the circulation was 261,000.

When comparing the fifth six-week period to the sixth six-week period, social studies grade averages improved from 79.02 to 85.5, and during the same period, attendance improved from 94.5 percent to 95.2 percent. Students receiving an "E" for "excellent" for citizenship improved from 20.9 percent the first six weeks to 26.3 percent the sixth six weeks.

"As educators, we are always striving for ways to create lifelong learners and make work given to students meaningful," said Riverside Middle School Principal Daniel Scroggins. "The Rotary STARS program was an excellent tool for us to use to heighten community and social awareness and to create well-rounded learners."

For more information, contact Superintendent Melody A. Johnson at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail]. Johnson's mailing address is Fort Worth Independent School District, 100 N. University Dr., Suite 207 SW, Fort Worth, TX 76107.