The first day of fieldwork for ninth Grade Civic Lab was met with mixed reviews. This year, the freshmen Civic Lab has been focused on climate change with the goal of inspiring students through learning about global problems and innovative solutions. “I hope students learn and understand that they are a part of something bigger, and at Parker, we are such a small community that sometimes we might not see how we impact the community around us,” said Grade Head and Civic Lab Leader Madeline Maldonado.
Since this is the first year that the freshman class has participated in Civic Lab, many students think that there is room for growth in the program. “I think Civic Lab could be improved by doing something that directly contributes to the wellbeing of our community instead of just inspiring us and others to do good,” freshman Addie Williams said. Other students echoed this sentiment and commented they found their previous Middle School program, Parker Partners, to be more impactful.
“I enjoyed Parker Partners more because I could use what I had learned to directly help people,” freshman Taliah Albert said. “During Parker Partners, it was mainly volunteering and doing activities that benefited the community, but during Civic Lab, you just get assigned to a topic that you learn more about.”
Maldonado believes that volunteer work is crucial to Civic Lab. “I think when you leave Parker, that is when some of the best learning happens,” Maldonado said. Ninth graders will be happy to know that Maldonado is making sure future Civic Lab fieldwork days will be based on hands-on work. “I know other places did have more learning involved and less service, so it is my goal to try and find opportunities for our students to do service to these organizations,” Maldonado said.
Overall, people who felt that they were making an impact had a much more positive experience than those who thought they weren’t making a difference. “I do think that we made an actual impact on people during Civic Lab because the toys that we made were actually put to use by the shelter,” freshman Amelia Luera said. Luera helped make toys for pets at the Anti-Cruelty Society.
Meanwhile, Williams, who went to a center that refurbishes furniture, said her group did an activity where they made furniture out of recycled cabinets and light fixtures. “I don’t think we really made any kind of impact during the Civic Lab,” Williams said. She did like “the hands-on parts of the Civic Lab because it made me feel like I was actively participating in helping our environment.”
Students have plenty of ideas on how to make future Civic Labs more engaging. Students seemed to agree that hands-on work would definitely benefit the program and keep students feeling inspired. “I think the service work that we do in Civic Lab could be improved. I know a lot of people that weren’t in the animal group that were saying, ‘Ooh, you’re so lucky that you were in that group, because their topic and service day didn’t feel helpful or interesting,’”Luera said.
Another idea ninth graders had was having the ability to choose their Civic Lab projects. “I believe that there should be a Google Form sent out each year, with a variety of volunteering ideas and how they benefit the community, and I think students should be able to pick their top three choices on what they do for Civic Lab,” Albert said. “This way people could be in Civic Labs they find interesting and are passionate about.”
In response, Maldonado is “open to [9th graders] having choice or ideas for what they should do but at the end of the day, the topic is what it is.” She adds that once freshmen reach their junior year, they will be able to choose the topics they want to learn about.
Maldonado hopes that ninth graders will both enjoy their experience in Civic Lab and be able to grow from it. “This is their first year doing this and I really hope that students can give teachers grace when we are planning.”
