Community
& Community Service
Building a true community is one of the core values of the Alternate
Learning Program. Many students drift through high school without feeling
like they truly belong to any of the communities around them. ALP does
two things to change this perception: create a community within the school, and
connect our students with the surrounding community through service
learning. We feel this process is so valuable that students who
successfully complete a semester-long Community Service/Community Class receive
elective credit for doing so.
Throughout the year, ALP students perform a wide range of community
service activities. They unload trucks full of citrus for the Kiwanis
Club, sort food donations for Person-to-Person and the Lower Fairfield County
Food Bank, collect used clothing and costumes for distribution to emergency
shelters, assemble Thanksgiving and Christmas packages for Darien families, and
assist with the DCA tag sale. This provides not only work experience but
a chance to better understand the towns and communities around them.
[for more information on Service Learning,
visit: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/chu/edc/sl
]
Within the high school, ALP works hard to create a strong, positive
community for its members. We meet regularly as a group to discuss and
plan our fundraising, field trips, and community service activities. We
also use this time to conduct school and program business, deal with any issues
or problems which arise, and spend time together to cement our bonds.
Each quarter, we try and plan an ALP field trip designed purely to
develop a sense of community and energy. We have gone regularly to the
[for more information on Character Education, visit: http://www.character.org/definingandunderstandingce ]