[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1020-S1021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 GREENVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL--A CLASS ACT

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, the newspaper USA Today recently initiated 
an ongoing series of articles spotlighting schools and educational 
programs in the country that are both innovative and successful.
  The first venture to be included in the series was the Builders Club 
at 
[[Page S1021]] Greenville Middle School in Greenville, AL.
  I want to congratulate the teachers involved in this unique 
community-service program and all the students at Greenville who 
participate in the Builders Club. They are setting an example that 
schools all over the Nation can follow.
  I ask unanimous consent that the USA Today article on the Builders 
Club be printed in the Record following my remarks.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                   [From the USA Today, Jan. 4, 1995]

                   Service Club Builds Good Citizens

                           (By Tamara Henry)

(This is the first in an ongoing USA Today series titled Class Acts, a 
    look inside some educational ventures across the USA that work 
                            remarkably well)

       Greenville. AL.--To the 175 students at Greenville Middle 
     School, splinters, needle pricks and scissor cuts are marks 
     of valor--the price paid to serve the community.
       On this day, approximately two dozen students are gathered 
     in teacher Judy Tindal's classroom to make Christmas 
     ornaments as appreciation gifts for community leaders.
       ``Ouch,'' yells 11-year-old Laine English, struggling to 
     thread a needle needed to sew lace over a ball of cotton.
       Her friends giggle.
       ``There's the real fun over there, burning your fingers,'' 
     she deadpans, pointing to a group adding wings and halos to 
     the covered cotton balls.
       ``That's right!'' agrees Amanda Myrick, II. ``Here's where 
     I burned myself with the hot glue gun.''
       The students are all Members of the Builders Club, a 5-
     year-old service organization funded by the state and 
     actively supported by the local Kiwanis Club. The middle 
     school is one of 23 public school systems in Alabama 
     participating in a statewide community service effort such as 
     this.
       Nationally, thousands of school systems have what are 
     popularly called service learning programs. They promote the 
     notion that education is not complete until classroom studies 
     are used to solve real-life problems.
       Activities run the gamut, from an Alternatives to Violence 
     high school program in Washington, D.C., to the creation of 
     an ecosystem in the desert in rural eastern Oregon by 
     elementary school pupils.
       With its Builders Club Greenville has one of the largest 
     service learning projects in the state. Unlike a lot of extra 
     curricular activities that require top grades or special 
     skills, the Builders Club is open to all middle school 
     students willing to work on different projects during breaks 
     and at lunch, as well as after school.
       Greenville students have 10 ongoing projects, including 
     frequent visits to nursing homes and development of a 5-acre 
     nature trail. The goal is to teach students about leadership, 
     loyalty, character and service, ``which is what they 
     absolutely have to have in order to be productive citizens,'' 
     says Judy Manning community education coordinator for Butler 
     County Schools, who spearheaded the group.
       ``Children who are involved are more productive 
     academically,'' says superintendent Jimmie Lawrence. ``The 
     more involved kids are, the better they feel about 
     themselves. Self-esteem improves. They are better adjusted, 
     happier and have fewer disciplinary problems.''
       Manning says the program's success is proven by its 
     membership numbers.
       ``If they didn't enjoy it, they wouldn't join it. You can't 
     make middle school kids do anything they don't want to do,'' 
     she says.
     

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