The fundamental mission of St. Mary's County Public School (SMCPS) Service-Learning Program is to engage students in a meaningful learning environment that fosters their understanding and commitment to civic engagement. In order to address complex issues confronting our communities, SMCPS recognizes and values its responsibility to prepare students to be active, responsible, and informed citizens. The SMCPS Service-Learning Program engages students to apply their academic classroom learning in a structured setting as they address community needs and develop skills that cultivate social innovation.

Service-learning is a problem-solving instructional strategy that links the Maryland States Curriculum (MSC), Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards, and College, Career, and Civic Life Social Studies Framework with a societal issue. Service-learning projections must include academic preparation, service activities that meet visible community needs, and structured reflection to reinforce the concepts learned. St. Mary's County Public Schools (SMCPS) requires seventy-five hours (75) of service-learning. Students fulfill the student service-learning graduation requirement in each of the three years of middle school and in the high school United States History and Government courses. While in the middle school, students complete a total of forty-five (45) hours. It includes fifteen (15) hours at each grade level. The high school completes thirty (30) hours, which is divided into fifteen hours in Grade 9 and fifteen hours in Grade 10. 

Service-Learning activities allow students to spend a significant portion of their time engaged in meeting a recognized community need. Students should be provided with opportunities to engage in a variety of types of Service-Learning: direct, indirect and advocacy experiences.

Student Service-Learning Implementation Plan

Student service-learning experiences include: 

• Academic Preparation: Students must be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for their service activity. Preparation may include achieving curricular objectives, exploring the meaning of civic engagement, and learning about the community and how to identify its needs.

• Service Activities: Students engage in purposeful, personally-relevant service-learning experiences. Students should spend a significant portion of their service-learning time engaged in meeting a recognized community need through direct, indirect, or advocacy service action.

• Structured Reflection: Students participate in ongoing reflection throughout a service-learning experience. Students contemplate and evaluate the service action and its impact on the community and on themselves, considering positives and negatives and adjustments that might be made to the activity

Direct Service

Students have face-to-face contact with service recipients. Examples include tutoring other students and serving meals at a homeless shelter.

Indirect Service

Students perform a service without having direct contact with the recipient. Usually, resources are channeled to help alleviate a community need. Examples may include food and clothing drives.

Advocacy

Students educate others about a selected issue to eliminate the causes of a particular community challenge. Examples include writing letters to legislators or newspaper editors, creating web pages, creating and displaying posters within the community, legislative testimony, etc.).

Community Deliberation - Bridging the Divide 

Operation Backpack 

Project Common Good 

Tackling The Hunger and Food Insecurity Gap  

Housing Insecurity and Veterans

Animal Shelter Crisis 

Native Plants 

Veterans 

Student Service-Learning in SMCPS Handout 

Frequently Asked Questions

Student Service-Learning Graduation Requirement

Maryland Student Service-Learning Guidelines - Do's and Don'ts

Students can create and execute an unavailable Student Service-Learning project through an embedded course. To do this, students must fill out a Student Service-Learning Pre-Approval Request Form and Pre-Approved Site-Inform for their independent project. These forms are necessary to ensure the project will count toward their service-learning hours. After completing the form, students should return it to the Student Service-Learning Coordinator at their school.

• Independent Student Service-Learning Project - Pre-Approval Request Form

• Independent Student Service-learning Site Pre-Approval Form 

Once the Pre-Approval Request and Site Pre-Approval forms have been thoroughly reviewed and are found to align with the Seven Best Practices of Student Service-Learning expectations, students will be provided with a Verification of Hours Form and a Reflection Form.

• Independent Service-Learning Project Verification - Hours Form

• Independent Student Service-Learning Project Verification - Reflection Form

National Service Organizations:

• America's Service Commissions

• AmeriCorps

• Education+ Service-Learning

• National Youth Leadership Council (nylc)

• youth.gov: U.S. Government and Service-Learning

• Youth Service America (YSA)

Maryland Service Organizations:

• AmeriCorps: National Service in Maryland

• Governor's Office on Service and Volunteerism

• Maryland Civic Education Coalition

• Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation