Education Resources

Square ceramic glazed tile.  Black lettering underneath reads "Americorps Integrated Arts, Integrating Education Northwestern University Settlement House". 

Students should review the exhibit titled “Learning to Serve,  Serving to Learn:  AmeriCorps during the Clinton Administration” before completing any of the following assignments. Students may work individually or in groups.

Option One

Students should review the list of the programs under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 and identify programs that serve their communities at different levels - school, district, city, county, and state. Students should conduct research and determine the impact of one program by gathering relevant statistics (the number of volunteers, the number of hours, the number of individuals served).

Students should compare results with other students then compile and share the data through multimedia presentations (such as Google Slides, PowerPoint, Prezi, or iMovie), websites, posters, or exhibit boards.

Extension Activity/Informed Action Component:

Students should create a social media campaign to increase awareness of how public service impacts their communities.

Option Two

In 1994, President Clinton signed the King Holiday and Service Act. The act established the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday as a national day of service aimed at bringing people of different races and backgrounds together through community service. As part of AmeriCorps, President Clinton and other volunteers celebrated the King Holiday as “a day on, not a day off.”

Students should examine how President Clinton commemorated the King Holiday each year using the digital library exhibit content and his daily schedules then conduct research on how other more recent presidents (George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden) have done so. Students should compare their findings and propose ideas for how future presidents should commemorate the King holiday.

Extension Activity/Informed Action Component:

Students should design a community service opportunity to be conducted on or around the King Holiday and present their proposal to local government leaders.