Summer Community Service Action Projects
Save the Rainforest!
Messy Backyard Clean Up
Truffula Seed Making and Distribution
Descriptions During the “Welcome to the Jungle” theme week, the youth were heartbroken to hear that some of their favorite animals’ homes were being destroyed by rainforest depletion. When asked what action they would like to take, one youth immediately answered, “Write to the President!” The rest of her peers agreed, so the youth wrote over 30 cards and letters to President Obama (as well as local representatives) asking him to support ecologically sound farming practices in South and Central America. The youth were inspired by a Solar Youth staple game called “Messy Backyard”, in which the room is divided into two sections and the youth throw the trash in their team’s side (their “backyard”) to the other team’s side. They noticed that the room stayed just as messy when they didn’t dispose of their trash correctly, so they cleaned up the room, sorting recyclables from refuse. Their clean-up didn’t stop there! Empowered, the youth scoured the school and school grounds for any other misplaced trash that they could find. As a part of their massive teach project, a stage production of The Lorax (see the Kids Teach! section) the youth were inspired to make Truffula seeds that would actually grow to hand out to their friends and parents. After an educator taught them about seed bombs (self-germinating balls of seeds, clay, and compost that can be thrown anywhere and bloom completely on their own), the youth decided to put their own spin on them by painting them colorfully with eco-safe water based paint, bagging them with pretty ribbon, and handing them out to their parents to beautify their surroundings. “You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a truffula tree, treat it with care. Give it clean water, feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from the axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all his friends may come back.”
Kids Teach! (about The Lorax . . .) In partnership with the Mayor’s Community Arts program through the City of New Haven, in the Summer of 2012, our youth were afforded the opportunity to do a whole new kind of teach project: a theatrical production of the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax! While Teach Project normally take place after the CSAP as an opportunity to share their project with their communities, this Public Education Project became the centerpiece of camp. From the first day, the youth were absorbed into the world of The Lorax, and it became a tool to address not only literacy, but also the interconnectedness of all living things. Summer Public Education Projects Week One
Descriptions The youth were split into groups by age, each group named for an animal featured in The Lorax. The youngest group were the Hummingfish, all the way to the oldest Barbaloots. The youth read The Lorax together, and each group came up with a sound for their groups’ animal, culminating in a cheering contest in the field outside the school!
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