The Champions of Caring Club
The Champions of Caring Club supports the creation of "cultures of caring" and promotes the development of positive climates in schools and communities. Through the club, students explore how they can make real changes in themselves and their communities through service. It can be taught in conjunction with our Journey of a Champion middle and high school curricula.
The Champions of Caring Club:
- Builds character, reduces prejudice and violence, encourages service and promotes social justice
- Teaches students virtues such as respect, fairness, honesty and the Carnegie Mellon Civic Dispositions that promote community involvement
- Empowers young people to develop sustainable service learning impact projects which address authentic community needs
- Teaches leadership skills that will help students to take their service to a higher level, including public speaking, public relations, fundraising and budgeting, professional etiquette, conflict resolution and problem solving
The Champions of Caring Club curriculum is divided into modules that focus on character development and service-learning. These modules promote character, develop leadership skills and guide students and facilitators through the creation of a service-learning project.
Modules 1 and 2, Building a Community of Champions and Preparing for our Community Service-Learning Project introduce students to the Champions of Caring program and guide them through an exploration of their school and community, a community needs assessment, and a model for service-learning project development.
Module 3, Service-Learning Project Toolkit, includes information on topics such as budgeting, public speaking, writing letters to ask for materials for a project, dealing with obstacles to moving forward, creating promotional materials to advertise the project, and professional etiquette.
Module 4, Health and Wellness, provides a template for developing and implementing a service-learning project. Modules with templates for intergenerational projects and anti-bullying projects are also available.
The Champions of Caring Club can be used in schools, after-school programs, faith based communities, community based organizations and summer camps. We offer a Facilitator Guide and Student Reflection Journal. The activities can be adapted according to your club needs.
