The Peters Township High School was awarded an $8,000.00 Learn and Serve America Grant in January 2010. Quickly after the grant was awarded, students began to mobolize into action. The first order of business was to create a youth driven student advisory board, develop a mission statement, a name and logo, a mini-grant process for sharing the money with PTSD teachers and students engaging in meaningful service work. Students met on a weekly basis and formed PTSD S.P.E.A.R.S. Students Planning, Educating, Advocating, Reflecting Service. The SPEARS group was comprised of the following members: Josh Bowman, Beth Fecher, Ashton Fremer, Matt Girouard, Juliann Gross, Carla Hoge, Daniel Ketyer, Jeremy Merich, Liz Palko, Karan Sharma and Jake Wilhelm. The group developed a mission statement, an informational brochure and a mini-grant process. After the initial establishment of the group, they contacted district principals, the superintendent and school board requesting permission to talk with staff and students about Service-Learning and how we might engage them in service projects. Projects can be found on the Projects Page under Service-Learning. Towards the end of the school year, students assisted others throughout the district with service projects and granted thousands of dollars that enabled others to engage in worthwhile learning endeavors. Later, students hosted a brunch for local non-profits and community service providers to learn about their needs and how we may engage with them. This year, we are asking members of local non-profit groups to participate in our youth driven board. We anticipate that the group will be awarded $11,000.00 during the 2010 /2011 school year. Money from this grant will help the group further expand service within the Peters Township School District. Goals for this years grant are to: ~Increase the number of service-learning participants ~Meet with the PTSD School Board ~Develop and implement community and school needs assessments ~Provide Mini-Grants to PTSD Teachers and students engaging in service ~Include representation from local non-profit groups on our Youth Driven Advisory Board