Secrets of Successful Projects

Veteran advisers of Outstanding Service Project and DifferenceMaker awards disclose their secrets in this article that identifies commonalities of successful projects.

In North Carolina, National Honor Society. members recently collected sports equipment for orphaned teenagers living in a Chernobyl-devastated section of Belarus.

In Wisconsin, student council leaders sponsored a dreamlike prom for local senior citizens.

And one Sunday a month in Minnesota, students buy, prepare, and serve dinner to low-income residents within their own community.

On the surface, these three projects seem very different. In reality, they share common strategies that have helped ensure their success-and garnered their sponsoring organization national honors.

Student Ownership-Defining the Project

According to experienced advisers, it is essential that students select the projects they undertake. Laura Mullen, adviser at Schimelpfenig MS in Piano, TX, says students are more motivated to succeed if they can claim ownership of the project from the first brainstorming session. "We encourage our students to find something that is special to them, something they have a heart for, and to then transfer that passion to others. Our kids brainstorm all sorts of ideas. As advisers, we do our best to facilitate making those ideas into reality," Mullen says.

Often successful projects include beneficiaries whom the students can relate to such as a group within their own community or other teenagers facing a particular hardship. At Massac County HS in Metropolis, IL, adviser Sue Bremer says that adding a personal element to the project encourages everyone to reach for established goals."Our high school secretary's son was stationed in Iraq, so we had a connection for our project to support U.S. troops. The students selected the project and were allowed to feel ownership of it."

Sue Iverson, student council adviser at Wayzata HS in Plymouth, MN, adds, "The students have to be on board with the project and have a vested interest in its success. If they care, they stay involved." The Wayzata HS initiative-the meals for low-income residents-is a monthly project that directly benefits residents within the community so Iverson's students see first hand that they are making a difference. This shared vision keeps them motivated to keep serving month after month.

Organization-Delegation and Accountability

After the project is defined, organization becomes the priority. It is critical that a project leader or chairperson is assigned who will track progress and ensure accountability. Once the lead position is established, tasks may be delegated according to areas of interest or expertise.

According to Jennifer Hibbeln at Wilmot Union HS in Wilmot, WI, the three most important ingredients for planning a successful project are: having a chairperson who can delegate jobs and make sure each job is getting done; getting committees established and up and running early in the project; and defining specific jobs for each committee.

Harriet Page, National Honor Society adviser at J. O. Sanderson HS in Raleigh, NC, reiterates the importance of effective organization. "Record every task and need, and decide how to fill these requirements. Plan accountability reporting. This is the best way to stay on track. Organize to produce an optimum experience for all involved," she suggests.

Page also adds that directly involving a variety of students on the planning team allows tasks to be delegated according to suitability. In collecting sports equipment for teens in Belarus, Page's planners utilized the connections of their committee members. "We learned that the track team had empty storage space under the gym, so a member of the track team was assigned to secure the area and to receive collected items. Another member worked at Baskin Robbins, so she was assigned to plan the ice cream party for the class that contributed the most," Page explains.

Establish Timelines and Enforce Deadlines

A working timeline is directly related to effective project organization. The chairperson shoulcl be responsible for enforcing deadlines and for soliciting progress reports from committee members.

Christine Watling at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical HS in Rochester, MA, worked with her students to provide fleece lap blankets for residents at a local nursing home. As the overseer of the project, Watling helped the students organize their time by establishing a timeline and a deadline. She notes that it is important to realize that most students have many other demands on their time, so it is beneficial to set a schedule that is realistic and has some flexibility built in.

"We stayed on track by giving ourselves a deadline for completion," she says. "The deadline was flexible by three or four days. It was a good thing too, because we had a snowstorm that delayed our completion of the blankets by a day or two."

Bremer explains that her group also stayed on track by establishing deadlines for each task and by allowing committee members to work at different times if necessary to accommodate their diverse schedules.

Effective organization enhanced teamwork and allowed members to adhere to established deadlines, according to Mullen. The group used phone trees, a school sponsored Web site, and an Internet mail group to keep everyone informed. Each group reported back as tasks were completed with the project lead acting as the key contact on the phone tree.

Build a Community Connection

Involving local residents and community businesses can also elicit enthusiasm and build momentum for the project. Each year, students at Armijo HS in Fairfield, CA, share their academic talents with elementary school students in the area through a special reading or science project. To foster community support and involvement, students hold annual rallies and invite local dignitaries such as McGruff the Crime Dog, the Jelly Belly Man, firefighters, and the mayor.

Not only is the community involved, but the students are also building a relationship with younger students in the area. Adviser Cathy Canaday believes that "the reward comes in knowing that you can reach out in your community and make a difference."

Over the years, Bremer has discovered that community support plays a key role in the success of any project. "I have learned how supportive the community can be of National Honor Society projects," she says, "especially when we held a car wash to raise funds for shipping the care packages (to U.S. troops). I think it made the community proud of the NHS members for participating in such a noble project."

A community connection was the focus of Mullen's project. Her middle school students decided to team up with other local middle schools to address the shortage of area volunteers. According the Mullen, the goal was to show the community that its young people are serious about serving, supporting, and enhancing the city.

The project involved establishing a relationship with City Hall personnel through a letter writing campaign, phone calls, and a written proposal to the mayor. By building a strong relationship with community leaders and by forming alliances with other schools, the students were able to successfully establish the Perpetual Resources for Volunteers Foundation.

Mullen believes her students sent a strong message to the community. "My students proved that they can do anything. If anyone questions the strength of our youth or questions where we are going as a country, they need only to look at these kids to know that everything will be okay," she says.

Marketing-There's No Such Thing as Too Much Publicity

Aggressive marketing is another element of successful project planning. Expert advisers have learned that effectively promoting an event can lead to greater involvement among the student body and surrounding community.

In "Blanket Yourself with Love," planners at Old Colony HS placed news releases in local newspapers and on the school's Web site to spread the word about the project. They also distributed flyers and made regular announcements at the school. The group promoted blanket-making workshops attended by National Honor Society members and other students.

To further encourage positive teamwork throughout the school and to boost project awareness, they enlisted the help of the boys' basketball team. Planners have discovered that involving other key groups at the school builds cooperation and serves to publicize the event through word of mouth. Students are eager to get their friends involved in a team effort.

Doug Erickson at Orono HS in Long Lake, MN, also highlights the importance of effective marketing. His students worked with the Department of Education in Florida to identify a school needing relief from last fall's hurricane damage."Setting the goal at $10,000 immediately got the attention we wanted. We used pictures (of the damaged school) to advertise the event. The student council promoted the activity during their lunch hour music program," Erickson says.

The group also placed a highly visible poster in the cafeteria asking for pledges to attend a fundraising event. When key students at the school began signing up, the list gathered its own momentum. As students watched the pledge list grow, the goal was reached and then surpassed. According to Erickson, "The whole school felt empowered by the experience."

Hibbeln, whose group sponsored the prom for senior citizens, points out that publicity is also important in gaining the attention and attendance of those who are the project beneficiaries. She notes that better publicity can be as simple as placing more posters in strategic locations. By providing more advertising, her group has found that attendance has increased in what is becoming an annual event.

Supportive Advisers-Support and Advise

Many ingredients contribute to the recipe for project success, but most advisers agree that the role of the adviser is a key element. The most successful projects have two goals: to provide a service to someone down the street, across the country, or around the world, and to provide student leaders with a valuable learning experience. Veteran advisers remember to focus on both goals by allowing the students to take the lead in planning and executing the project.

Canaday stresses the importance of letting students experience leadership, organization, communication, and responsibility. Page agrees: "I always let the members do the service learning. How else will they learn? In this project, all I did was present the possibilities, advise for optimum facilitation, and communicate with the relief organization (that was benefiting from the project)."

Bremer adds that it is important for advisers to be supportive and available but to take a back seat to the actual project planning. "Advisers should provide suggestions and encouragement," she suggests. "They should remember that the project is a learning experience and the end result may not be perfect."

These advisers agree that they have gained as much from watching their students succeed as the students have learned from planning a successful project." I have learned so much about my students and how truly caring and concerned they are about other people," 'Iverson says. "I have learned that students can rise to amazing levels when given the opportunity. They love making a difference."

Mullen shares this pride in her students and has discovered that with a strong, enthusiastic student base, you can accomplish anything/Our goal was always to make a difference in the world around us," she states. "As Shirley Chisholm once said, 'Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth."'

Kathleen Wilson Shryock is a freelance writer in Olathe, KS.

Copyright National Association of Secondary School Principals Sep 2005
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