South Dakota
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History
In the mid-2000s, regional efforts in some areas have strengthened school-based service-learning. Sioux Falls’s Help!Line Center received a community-based Learn and Serve grant to boost service by young people.
Through the Service-Learning Impacting Citizenship (SLIC) program of the Points of Light Foundation the Volunteer Center has worked with Senator Tim Johnson’s office to engage students in the Veterans History Project. Students interviewed veterans and forwarded the transcripts to the Library of Congress for collection. Through this process young people began to see a number of problems veterans experienced. In reflection sessions they began asking questions. How can veterans be homeless if they receive a check from the government? Through the SLIC program these youth explored those questions by working with the local Veterans Administration and coordinating a Stand Down (an event to provide veterans with basic needs, health info etc), as well as developing an on-going relationship with Senator Johnson’s office and the Veterans Administration.
Networks of Support
As in every state, schools and youth-serving agencies across South Dakota engage in a range of community service and service-learning efforts. Most of this effort is organized by individual schools, school districts, and organizations.
The South Dakota Department of Education has emphasized service-learning as a component of effective character education, particularly as a means to develop moral character. The state Character Education newsletter featured service-learning examples, and the state website offered service-learning resources.
Debra Schiefelbein, State Director for the Corporation for National and Community Service points out that while the state has no Learn and Serve program and no State Commission, service opportunities exist through Senior Corps, VISTA, and at various college campuses. These programs, in turn, help role model service to younger citizens and promote service-learning in an informal way. Cuts at the state office, from three staff members to one, additionally limit the ability of cross-stream service coordination.
Policy Support
The state currently has no policy that authorizes, requires, or provides funding for service-learning or related activities. However, the South Dakota Department of Education has emphasized service-learning as a component of effective character education, particularly as a means to develop moral character. The state Character Educa- tion newsletter has featured service-learning examples, and the state website offered service-learning resources.
Higher Education
VISTAs working at several campuses across the state, including the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State, Black Hills State University, and Mt. Marty College, are actively lobbying their campuses to integrate service-learning in curricula.
Strong service-learning programs at institutions of higher education have sought to nurture school-based service-learning. In 2002, the University of South Dakota joined the Nebraska Consortium for Service-Learning in Higher Education, followed by a number of other campuses. The organization then dropped Nebraska from its name to reflect its expanded membership in South Dakota and Iowa.
Since 2000, USD requires all students to complete a service requirement as part of its Interdisciplinary Education & Action (IdEA) Program. The school also sponsored a service-learning research conference in fall 2005. Some university faculty have incorporated service-learning methodologies into the teacher education curriculum.
Oglala Lakota College receives a $190,933 higher education grant that funds service-learning at four colleges and universities in the state. As well, Volunteers of America Dakotas receives a portion of a national community-based grant. The college offers mini-grants, up to $2,000, through its Wolakolkiciyapi (Living Lakota Ways of Life In Community) program to help them transform traditional college classroom experiences into service-learning courses.
Learn and Serve
South Dakota receives limited Learn and Serve funding and does not currently have, nor has it ever had, a state-level K-12 service-learning program. About 1,300 students in higher education were funded through Learn and Serve in 2008. Through the community-based organization Volunteers of America Dakotas, eleven K-12 students are involved in service-learning.
The role of SEA does not exist in the state as of 2008. If South Dakota were to establish a K-12 LSA program, it would receive approximately $40,000 in funds from the Corporation.
Youth Contributions
This section is in need of expansion. You can help by expanding it.
Examples of Quality Service-Learning
- Joining Across Miles Environmental Systems
- Arts and Identity in South Dakota (Vermillion, South Dakota)
References
- Cairn, Rich, Neal, Marybeth, and Crossley, Alison. 2006. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2006. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
External Links
Corporation for National and Community Service
- Learn and Serve America in South Dakota
- National Service in South Dakota (Corporation for National and Community Service)
Higher Education
- Center for Academic Engagement (University of South Dakota)
- Oglala Lakota College Service-Learning Department
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