June 2009
The LEAGUE Roster

School is out for the summer! But that doesn’t mean that giving or making a positive difference in your community stops.  Go to www.theleague.org to find great ideas on Wildcard Events.

As The LEAGUE brings to a close its second season we applaud the 2,018 teams (classes), 247 schools and 80,582 students who actively participated in LEAGUE events and programs this school year.  Big and small your contributions are making a positive difference in the community, nation and the world! To find out more or to join, visit www.theleague.org. To date, The LEAGUE teams have contributed 5,706,238 in time (hours), talent and treasure (donations raised) to their communities nationwide.

Enthusiasm and Pride Abounds at The LEAGUE National Awards & Recognition Breakfast!
The LEAGUE’S National Awards and Recognition Breakfast was held on June 5th in NYC.  The celebration and recognition event with title sponsor ING, was co-hosted by actor and philanthropist Josh Lucas and CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin; and special guest U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. The annual event honors and celebrates the top national LEAGUE teams (classes), schools and districts, and this year U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan presented the inaugural All-America High School Service Team awards to those students who have made nationally significant contributions through service in the areas of Education, Environment, Community, Health and Economics.

The LEAGUE was honored to also have the following Celebrity Presenters join us in recognizing today’s young people:

    * John Amos, Actor and Founder Halley's Comet Foundation
    * Mr. G., Weather Anchor PIX News at Ten
    * Byron Garrett, CEO National Parent Teacher Association
    * Dan Hanlon, Senior Vice-President ING
    * Erica Hill, CNN News Anchor
    * Joel Klein, Chancellor NYC Public Schools
    * Michelle Nunn, CEO HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute
    * SuChin Pak, MTV News Correspondent
    * Silda Wall, Founding Chairperson Children for Children

Held at Chelsea Piers - Pier Sixty, the National Awards & Recognition Breakfast provided a platform for the students to proudly represent their generation as service leaders. Students from Indiana to California to New Jersey were in attendance, ranging from 1st to 12th grades. The youth accepted awards on behalf of their schools and classrooms, and charmed the crowd with speeches of humility and gratitude.

CONGRATULATIONS to our next generation of civic leaders!

In Her Own Words 15 Year Old Marci Wolfish Describes The LEAGUE National Awards & Recognition Breakfast
The morning began with The LEAGUE’S National Awards ceremony. It was filled with amazing stories and amazing speakers, including co-hosts, Jessica Yellin and Josh Lucas. LEAGUE school, class and student winners from all over the country were honored along with the five students who received the honor of becoming the first ever, All America High School Service Team.

At the Youth Session Think Tank led by LEAGUE Director of Training, Betsy Wolfish. I was seated with other high school students, including all five All Stars and the President of The LEAGUE National Youth Commission, Daniel Fine. I sat down, introduced myself to the people to each side of me and listened for a moment. Immediately I could see what a great group it was. Everyone was talking and sharing ideas about how to get more volunteers, creating broadened awareness, possible projects, connections, and sharing what we all had done. Now this may not sound so impressive, I mean, we were in a think tank, right? Yes, we were, but it had not even started yet, and within about five minutes I knew who everyone was, what big service projects they have done, and how much we all had in common. I have never seen a group of complete strangers come together as quickly as this group! There were no periods of awkward silences with nothing to say. I was pleasantly surprised to be discussing things that really mattered to me and interested me. We had discussions about blood drives, recycling, reaching out to our peers, President Obama, the future, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and of course a little teenage nonsense.

I left the room with a list of contacts, a head full of new ideas, and an unbelievable experience that I will always remember. One of our most interesting discussions was around our hope for our generation brought up by Lulu [Mickelson, the All America High School Service Team recipient for Environment] . Every generation is known for something. We hope and believe that our generation can be known for our dedication and activism in community service, rather than how many text messages we send or hours we are on the computer. I had never really thought about this until Lulu had brought it up. It really got me thinking about how to make this happen. I know that we need to figure out how to get more teens involved with the kind of community service that they enjoy. I believe that many teens think that all there is to do is visiting nursing homes and collecting canned foods. While both of these things are important and make a huge difference, they may not be for everybody. I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to take their passions, interests, and values and turn them into a way to help someone or something, and this is an idea that The LEAGUE encompasses.

U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Honors
The All America High School Service Team!
On June 5th at The LEAGUE National Awards & Recognition Breakfast, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, presented the inaugural All America High School Service Team Award to five high school students from across the country who made nationally significant contributions of service.
High School students submitted applications to be considered for the All America High School Service Team in any of five categories: Health, Education, Environment, Economics, and Community.

Winners were determined in a two tier judging process represented by a cross section of blue ribbon panel of judges. 1st Tier winners received the trip to NYC to attend The LEAGUE Awards & Recognition Breakfast  and receive their award from Secretary Duncan.  Additionally these five amazing young people along with the 2nd Team and 3rd Team recipients will become national youth spokesperson for service and a member of The LEAGUE National Youth Commission. We can’t wait to see the impact that they will continue to make.

Congratulations to the following winners:

1st Team (pictured at right)
Community: Sejal Hathi - Freemont CA, Notre Dame High School
Education: Sierra Dawn James - Rockville IN, Rockville High School              
Environment: Lulu Mickelson - Santa Monica CA, Santa Monica High School
Health: Sarah G. Cronk - Bettendorf IA, Pleasant Valley High School
Economics: Justin Michael - Churchman  El Paso TX, Coronado High School


2nd Team
Community: Tari Suri - Scarsdale NY, Edgemont High School
Education: Marie Mason - Oklahoma City, OK, Casady School
Environment: Catherine Grace - Soloway  Thousand Oaks CA, Westlake High School
Health: Victoria Vines - Oklahoma City, OK, Putnam City West High School
Economics: Mitchell Arnold - Fort Atkinson WI, Fort Atkinson High School


3rd Team
Community: Mary Kathryn Brummet - Pensacola FL, West Florida High School
Education: Olivia Joy Stinson - Charlotte, NC, Mallard Creek High School
Environment: Blake Taylor - Dallas TX, Trinity Christian AcademyLogos
Health: Alex R. Harelick - White Plains NY, White Plains High School
Economics: Jessie Rae McDowell - Pittsburg TX, Chapel Hill High School

The LEAGUE would also like to thank media partners PARADE magazine and CNN for their support of The All America High School Service Team.

School Bridge LEAGUE Heads to the Nation's Capital
School Bridge LEAGUE (SBL) is honored to be a co-sponsor for the second year for the Youth NABC tournament. SBL will again be awarding the top 2 Bridge team pairs (chosen based on the highest overall cumulative score in each SBL category level) with a trip to Washington, DC to participate in the Youth NABC tournament.  This year’s tournament is scheduled to be held July 29 - August 1.   Also again this year, at the tournament School Bridge LEAGUE will be offering its “Teaching Critical Thinking Through Bridge” Workshop.  This workshop training session teaches teachers how to play the game of Bridge and introduce it to their students.  The multi-day workshop is conducted by educators as well as ACBL members and is designed for non-Bridge playing teachers (4th through 8th grades) to provide the fundamentals of bridge and the classroom techniques to teach students how to play the game of Bridge.SBL

Coming soon … School Bridge LEAGUE will hold its 1st Annual School Bridge LEAGUE Tri-State (NY, NJ, CT) Interscholastic Tournament.  This inaugural tournament will be in early-August at the Manhattan Bridge Club in NYC.  If you are interested in having your students participate please contact paula@schoolbridgeleague.org for additional information.

School Bridge LEAGUE was established through the generous support of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.  Both are avid bridge players and passionate about the life lessons that can be learned from the game, especially in decision making, critical thinking and teamwork.


LEAGUE Michigan Students Celebrate a Month-Long Cinco de Mayo
Students at Thomas Read Elementary School recognized Mexico's independence and Hispanic culture by celebrating Cinco de Mayo for an entire month. Every Friday in May the Shelby, Michigan students participated in activities that represented typical Hispanic cultural practices. Cinco de Mayo is formally celebrated on May 5.

Piñatas helped kick of the start of the celebration.  Every student designed and constructed an individualized piñata with tissue paper and brown paper bags. While creating, the classrooms discussed the importance of Cinco de Mayo and how it relates to them and their community.

The following Friday the students rotated to six different stations that represented activities in which children from Mexico would commonly participate. The stations included Salsa dancing, soccer, painting maracas, creating paper flowers, watching a movie about Mexico, and cooking bonuelos.

At the end of the month, the entire school heard a great taste of typical Mexican music and learned a few steps of Salsa. The concert, which took place in the school gym, included a local band with native Mexican musicians.

“With 25% of Shelby’s population having a Hispanic background it was neat to teach and share our culture with the students who have never experienced typical Mexican celebrations and traditions.”
~Anne Byl, Instructional Assistant

Texas Students Give Until the Very End!Texas Training

On May 20 and 21 The LEAGUE Austin through a partnership with A Legacy of Giving, conducted teacher professional development training covering academic service learning, The LEAGUE program, and A Legacy of Giving.  The training also focused on the use of LEAGUE Wildcards and integration of service learning into existing school cultures.  The workshop was attended by 65 new and returning educators to The LEAGUE, including 14 returning and 5 new schools.

During the 2008-2009 school year The LEAGUE Austin/A Legacy of Giving schools returned $285,110.15 in economic value back to their communities through the students’ philanthropy.  Inspired by the training, Perez Elementary School held a last-minute Wildcard Event at the close of the school year. The group collected leftover school supplies for children in Central and South America. The LEAGUE Austin students have truly become leaders in service, giving until the very end!

The TIPping Point: Green Philanthropy

Look around you this month and notice the greening of spring and summer: flowering bushes, leafy trees, rapidly growing grass, emerging gardens, and ... the economy. The greening of our economy is now front and center in the news as a way to be responsible, create jobs, and sustain the environment for future generations.

This is a great context in which to discuss the concepts of personal responsibility and philanthropy with young people. Here is a Learning Link from one of our Earth Day LEAGUE lessons to spark conversation and reflection:

Read: Have you ever heard of an Earth philanthropist? We all know what the Earth is. Do you recall what a philanthropist is? A philanthropist is someone who shares time, talent, or treasures for the common good. A philanthropist may be someone who gives money to help people. It may be someone who gives money to help the environment. A philanthropist may also be someone who gives time and talent to help people and the environment.

Discuss: If someone was an Earth philanthropist, what are some of the things he or she would do? In what ways is being an Earth philanthropist promoting the common good? In what ways is helping the environment also helping people? In what ways could we be Earth philanthropists?


The LEAGUE is changing the world by empowering young people everywhere to "get in the game" of making their community and world a better place.