Creating change at Truesdell EC, Part I: Identifying the community's biggest need

During the DC SCORES spring season, each of our 44 teams go through a four-step service-learning process that involves A) Identifying problems that need addressing in their community; B) Researching one issue; C) Implementing a project to make a difference in the community; and D) Reflecting on the impact they made.

This spring, DC SCORES intern Kristen Miano is following the Truesdell Education Campus (elementary school) Trojans as they go through the service-learning process. Read below and watch each week’s video to learn how DC SCORES empowers youth to create change around them.

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Written by Kristen Miano
Digital Media Intern

Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist, once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

The Truesdell Trojans may be small, but indeed, they are committed. As a part of the spring season with DC SCORES, the students have come together to work on a service-learning project that will better their community.

“Our students get this huge confidence boost seeing that they came up with an idea, and it happened, that they did it and helped other people,” said writing coach Emily Adams, who is guiding the students through the 12-week service-learning process.

The first part of the process is identifying an issue in the community to focus on. After two weeks together, the Trojans are close to choosing their project.

Class last Wednesday kicked off with an anonymous vote. The students voted on a variety of choices, including a project involving homelessness, a plan for a community garden, and a petition to work on the nutrition available at their school.

The votes are being tallied and the results will be announced this week.

In the meantime, the Trojans settled in to learn about the importance of staying committed to the project they will eventually work on. The team divided into groups to read a poem describing a situation in which people who promised to work on a project never quite followed through. The groups were asked to write about what they learned or thought was important about the poem to share with the rest of the class.

“The poem said we should always do our work and not wait for someone else to do it,” said Blessing T.

Overall, the class felt the poem was telling them to work hard, stay on target, and never give up -- helpful messages to remember for when they officially begin work on changing their community!