Make a Difference Ideas

Fast Facts

Plan for K-12

Guide for High School

Guide for Middle School

Entry Form

Completion Form

Planning Guide For
Ideas for High School

What’s happening in the world? How do others see me? Do my actions count?
High school students discover answers to these and other important questions through community service. Students apply their life skills in situations where people depend on them. They develop new relationships based on mutual respect, and a stronger sense of self-worth. As they become involved in service, teens who may not necessarily be part of a bigger circle at school or in their community take an essential step toward being responsible adults who can contribute equally.

Planning Make A Difference Day projects
Teens may prefer to initiate their own projects; others may want to serve community agencies that welcome youth. Remember, to qualify for a Make A Difference Day award, a significant part of your project must take place on Saturday, October 27.

Getting Started

• Interview: Invite a person who has made a difference in your community through service to meet with the class. Students develop questions before the guest arrives. Have each student ask at least on e question. Later, focus on what students learned about the rewards of service to others.
• Art: Students can create a mural depicting your community to display in the school.

Language Arts Connections

• Ask students to write about a time they helped or were helped by someone, including what they learned and felt.
• Identify organizations serving your community by polling other students, school staff, family members, and neighbors. In pairs, students research what services the agencies of the United Way of Calvert County offer.

Math Connections

• Students develop a budget to accompany their community service project and record expenses and the value of donations received.

Current Events Connections

• Working in groups, have students monitor a social issue for a week. Have them note TV, radio, and newspaper coverage. As a class, students report their findings: What stays in the news? Does the coverage match the issue’s importance? How can a Make A Difference Day project address the issue?

Recognition

• Seniors plan events to recognize Make A Difference Day contribution of juniors, juniors plan for sophomores, and so on.
• Acknowledge students for their volunteer efforts by presenting certificates of recognition at end-of-year awards assemblies.

Real-Life Examples of how KIDS This Age Make A Difference
Joining forces at a military base, teens at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, cleaned and restocked the shelves of the Fairbanks Rescue Mission, visited local elderly and disabled residents, and entertained kids at a community event.

High school students in the agricultural town of Lynden, Washington made a difference in the lives of some needy children by building a playground at a migrant workers’ camp – complete with fort, sandbox, seesaw, and tire swings. They enlisted a lumberyard and a building supply store to donate materials for the project.

Teens in Vernon, New Jersey decided to offer their assistance at the local soup kitchen. The only problem was they didn’t have a soup kitchen. The teens created a makeshift, one-day soup kitchen and were able to feed 60 needy residents and provide leftovers to take home. Their efforts gave voice to an unrecognized need in their community. In response to their efforts and success, a permanent soup kitchen was created with the $10,000 National Award they received from Newman’s Own, Inc.

High school students in Las Vegas helped 30 homeless adults compose professional resumes during a job fair they held at the area’s largest homeless shelter. At least nine of the adults later found jobs.