Service Learning Leadership has plans to improve Peninsula High School

As the second year of Service Learning Leadership rolls around, teacher and founder Heather Myrick prepares to tackle local and global issues with her students.

While some previous projects will remain, many new ones will be added. One of the new projects, Believe It Or Not I Care, or the BIONIC team, will be responsible for handing out care packages to students and staff members in tough situations.

The class also plans to invite other classes to listen to guest speakers and learn about major issues. Myrick then plans to create service projects inspired by the speakers like making blankets for children in hospitals and helping out at shelters, and give the entire student body a chance to participate. World Kindness Day, a Day Without Shoes, and Random Acts of Kindness Week are a few of the projects that Service Learning plans to continue.

“I want to be extra organized and efficient so we can serve the most amount of people we can,” Myrick said.

Myrick’s first year seemed a balancing act between multiple service projects and educational activities. Service Learning’s UC approval requires the class to meet certain requirements. She has worked with other staff members to create a unique and appealing addition to the Leadership Department that encourages service, improves collaborative and critical thinking skills, and informs students of the issues in their local and global community.

“I was really intrigued by the idea of teaching kids how to do good in the world,” Myrick said. Now, other out-of district teachers have contacted her, hoping to adopt the ideas of her class and projects.

Myrick hopes her students leave her class with an understanding of how to take a big idea and turn it into an action plan. She hopes students learn to go out and make their own impact on the world. She believes that, “even if you feel you are doing something small, all change is good and important.”