By Heidi Reimer, Collége Garden City Collegiate, Winnipeg, Manitoba

In April, I attended the National Youth Leadership Council 35th Annual National Service-Learning Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. This conference was both inspiring and informative. My objectives for the conference were to connect with and learn from other professionals who work in youth-based community service programs, and to gain insight and resources as to how to grow and develop leadership capacity in our students at Collége Garden City Collegiate. 

I returned from the conference feeling excited and empowered to steer our program forward in a direction that will hopefully help me to take it to the next level. My dream is that one day our ‘community service’ program not only represents volunteerism, but is also strongly founded in ‘service-learning’ and largely led by student leaders. The difference in terminology here is important to highlight- being that ‘service-learning’ typically involves research, problem-solving, design process, project management, action and reflection, whereas ‘community service’ can sometimes involve these things, but often is somewhat limited to volunteering and some reflection. The sessions I attended at the conference spoke to a lot of different aspects of my work and overall left me feeling that we are not only on the right track, but that my goal is also possible to realize. 

One of the key takeaways from the conference overall was the affirmation that our young people are both capable and powerful, and with the support and guidance that a caring and invested adult can provide, our youth have the ability to implement tremendous change in their communities. Although many of the sessions I attended highlighted this same notion, I attended several sessions by an educator named James Toole that I found particularly influential and motivating. His work focuses on how adults can help the youth in their care to become ‘change-makers’. My conclusion from his sessions is that the heart of this transformation are two key concepts: perception and relationship. 

First, effective leadership depends a lot on how you see things. One of his quotes that really resonated with me was ‘when you change the way you see things, the things you look at change.” He talked about us being ‘service-learning optometrists’ whose role it is to change how youth see themselves, to change how youth see others, to change how youth see leadership (ie: to see themselves as leaders) and to change how youth see problem-solving. Dr. Toole offered many examples of how we can help students to develop a positive lens through which to view the challenges in our community and that this can assist them in finding creative solutions and can empower those who might be reluctant to take on leadership roles to find and express their voice. 

Secondly, building leadership capacity is heavily dependent on relationships. To quote Dr. Toole: “Service-learning is relationship-rich pedagogy”. When students engage in service-learning, they are building social capital. Our role as teachers and program coordinators is not only to help our students develop empathy and soft skills that will assist them in reaching their goals, but also to be a support for them as they try new things and push themselves to new limits. The encouragement and investment that we can provide as educators plays a key role in the development of the courage and confidence they are growing through their experiences. Dr. Toole recommended a book, ‘How to know a person’ by David Brook, which I have been finding insightful as it offers strategies to get people talking about themselves and what’s important to them. In order to engage students in service-learning in its truest form, this ‘knowing’ is an essential piece of the puzzle, as the best projects are inspired by the things that people are passionate about. 

I found that Dr. Toole’s sessions were particularly challenging because at the end of them, I was left asking myself some big questions about my overall vision for our program. One question that particularly resonated was, “is it more important to grow your strengths or eliminate your weaknesses?” Sometimes when I think about all that our program currently is- with all its moving parts- and what our program could be, I get overwhelmed, however Dr. Toole encouraged us to seek out what we are pretty good at already and focus on getting better at that. I think it is also helpful advice to share with students who are questioning their own capacity or who are unsure of what their own strengths and passions are. He also noted that “organizations move in the direction of what questions they ask” and that we tend to “move towards the images we hold”. Sometimes in the mire of the day-to-day of logging volunteer hours, chasing permission forms, making announcements, and completing to-do lists, it’s hard to keep one’s eye on the overall big picture, but his words were a powerful reminder that it’s really important to keep that objective- that dream- in mind. 

The keynote address of the conference was something that will stay with me forever. Kao Kalia Yang is an educator and author of literature for both children and adults. She shared her story of being an English-language learner after coming to America as a Hmong refugee at the age of seven. She also spoke at length about the power of relationships- in particular how the relationships she had with key adults in her community growing up had a strong impact on her ability to express herself and to achieve her goals. A negative childhood experience caused her to become a selective mute for many, many years, but with the encouragement and persistence of those who cared deeply about her, Ms. Yang came to find her voice and she now shares it widely through her books and her career as a community leader and teacher. Her soulful, poetic words reminded me yet again of the potential I have as an educator to either hold up- or hold back- my students, depending on the relationship that I curate with them. 

Finally, I attended many other sessions that spoke to my more practical questions about running our program. I learned that the United States has a lot of support for student volunteerism and service-learning and that each state has its own service mission support network for program coordinators like myself to tap into. It will take me some time to sift through all of these resources, but I am optimistic that there will be some great tools to use and to share with teachers who run student leadership groups and also in our Advocacy classes. As well, I gleaned some practical new ideas on how to grow, to focus and to highlight our program within the school and the community. Overall, this conference was very affirming and has acted as somewhat of a compass to guide me in the direction I am hoping to go with our program at Garden City. I would highly recommend the NYLC Service-Learning Conference to anyone who works with student leadership groups and also for those who teach Global Issues!

Join us for The 36th Annual National Service-Learning Conference® in Saint Paul, MN! Registration is now open.