[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 51 (Tuesday, May 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on April 19, the country marked National 
Youth Service Day. On that day, 1 million young Americans from all 50 
States were working in their communities to demonstrate their 
commitment to community service. A large number of participants and 
staff came to Washington for a conference organized by Youth Service 
America.
  This is an auspicious time for national and community service. A year 
ago, Congress passed landmark legislation that laid the foundation for 
greater involvement in service programs. We provided new Federal 
support and seed money. But the real work at the grass roots level is 
what counts the most.
  National Youth Service Day helped spread the message to communities 
across the country and encouraged the implementation of service 
programs in as many places as possible. As the idea takes root, 
community service is making an increasingly significant difference in 
dealing with local problems, meeting local needs, and creating stronger 
neighborhoods and a stronger nation.
  I would like to mention a few examples of impressive initiatives in 
Massachusetts. In Boston, schoolchildren had the week of April 18 off 
for Patriot's Day and spring vacation. Nearly a thousand of them gave 
new meaning to Patriot's Day. They attended day camps run by City Year. 
They worked on arts and crafts projects, sports, dance, music, and 
neighborhood cleanups.

  Getting children involved in such programs at an early age is 
especially important. They learn the ideal of service and they keep it 
all their lives. They develop important skills and pride in their own 
ability, and they help their community as well.
  I am particularly interested in steps that integrate community 
service into the educational curriculum. In fact, some of our best 
programs in Massachusetts involve service-learning.
  In Bolton, at the Emerson School, which goes from Kindergarten 
through eighth grade, seventh grade teacher Larry Isomaki and third 
grade teacher Suzanne Wintle have teamed up to create a science 
project. Pupils in two grades work together to study marine life and 
pollution in a nearby river. They send the results of their work to the 
University of Massachusetts, which keeps a data base to determine 
priorities for cleaning up the environment. In the process, the seventh 
graders teach the third graders to use microscopes, and all ages 
together learn the importance of protecting the environment.
  In Boston, at the Hyde Park High School, students in a group called 
``Creative Action'' are renovating their school, which urgently needs 
repair. Two of those students were here in Washington last week--
Michael Hilton and Alex Gaston. With the help of Francis Kubala and Sam 
Collins, two community volunteers, they fix bathrooms, paint 
classrooms, and landscape the school grounds. In the past 3 years, they 
have painted 80 percent of the school and raised thousands of dollars 
to renovate the auditorium. They are also developing their writing 
skills by helping to draft community service grant applications to the 
State Department of Education.
  Another group that sent representatives to the conference in 
Washington is the Lincoln-Filene Center at Tufts University. Two 
program directors, Pat Barnicle and Barbara Locurto, are helping 
teachers integrate service into the classroom. One of their best 
projects is the Reading Raiders program at West Roxbury High School. 
There, under teacher Mary Ellen Bower, students are learning about 
children's literature and have developed a library of children's books. 
They travel to local elementary schools and read aloud to younger 
students.
  At the Eliot School in Boston's North End, teacher Lambros Alex 
Pappas teaches fifth graders about the American revolution and takes 
them to visit two historical landmarks near the school--the Old North 
Church and the Paul Revere House. Later, the Eliot fifth graders invite 
students from elementary schools in Dorchester and Mattapan to come 
visit these famous Revolutionary War sites. The Eliot students share 
the history of their neighborhood by serving as tour guides for the 
other children.
  Under the Magic Me program in Boston, 15 middle school students from 
the Mission Hill After School Program are paired with senior citizens 
from the Resthaven Nursing Home. One of the pairs matches 14-year-old 
Domingo--who had not wanted to participate in the program--and 78-year-
old Matteo, who had been depressed and had refused to leave his room. 
Domingo and Matteo met and became friends. Matteo now is an active 
member of the nursing home community, and Domingo meets him weekly for 
educational projects and conversation.

  The Kennedy Library Corps in Boston sponsors an intergenerational 
service learning program which is planned and led by five high school 
students. In this program, called the JFK Kids Ko-op, 15 students from 
the McCormick Middle School in Dorchester work with senior citizens 
from the Barnard Day Program to prepare story books based on the senior 
citizens' oral histories. When the books are complete, they will visit 
the University of Massachusetts Day Care Center and read their stories 
to young children.
  In Springfield, middle school students spend two afternoons a week in 
a service learning project at the Girls' Club Family Center. With the 
help of project director Carol Rawson-Reese, 12 year-olds learn about 
chemistry through magic tricks. Later this spring, they will teach 
younger children what they have learned during an after-school program 
at the Girls' Club.
  At the Rebecca M. Johnson School in Springfield, service is part of 
the curriculum throughout the school year. Seventh grader Jimmie 
Spencer is organizing a schoolwide recycling program. Other students 
are writing a health newsletter for distribution to middle schools in 
the area. Still others have organized a post office within the school, 
and they develop their writing skills by corresponding with one 
another. Sixth grader Nathanael Pereira serves as school postmaster, 
delivering mail from class to class.
  As a result of the Federal legislation and local efforts like these, 
hundreds of new service programs are being launched this year and are 
beginning to make a difference in their neighborhoods. Existing 
programs will expand to new communities.
  The examples I have given only touch the surface of all the promising 
models that are becoming available. From the says of first settlers on 
our shores, service to others has always been the hallmark of America's 
success. It is the spirit of the old frontier, and the New Frontier 
too. It is what President Kennedy meant in his inaugural address, when 
he urged all Americans to ask not what their country can do for them, 
but what they can do for their country.
  Now, after years of indifference, we are entering a new era in which 
working together and helping others is once again at the center of 
national attention. By helping others, service participants are not 
just serving their communities--they are serving their country and 
making America what it ought to be.

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