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Let's
take a walk around the project.
| Greetings!
Youth gain a broad base of experience through local service learning
projects. Take a look at how students at the Alternative Learning Center in east
Austin are getting hands-on educational experience.
LifeWorks became a community partner with the eastside school in the fall of
2003. "We didn't know what to expect since this was new to us, but we were eager
to see how we could help."
Youth Excellence 
The roots of the ALC Greenhouse Project began in 2002 when a service-learning
grant provided funds to purchase the modular kit. When LifeWorks Institute
arrived on the scene at the beginning of school, 2004, we saw piles of
materials.
Our project team consisted of Stanley Smith, whose interests in the martial
arts have allowed him to teach youth through self-discipline; Dana Ellinger, a
local artist who has been focused on 'EarthArt' as a vehicle for teaching; and
Chef Marko, a real live chef who is interested in showing youth there are
healthy and tasty ways to eat and sustain their bodies. Fun happens when people
get together. Even people who don't know each other. Strangers can create
powerful relationships that are forever remembered.
So there they were with a pile of stuff that was supposed to transform into a
greenhouse by the end of the school year. Yikes! The brains began to swirl as
the team met school staff and began to get the lay of the land.
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Service
Learning with Greenhouse Project |
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 Planning, calculating, drilling, cutting..... Middle
school and high school students are getting hands-on learning at the Alternative
Learning Center in northeast Austin.
Remember how it is to learn something new--something entirely foreign to your
way of thinking? That is the opportunity youth have at the ALC. They are gaining
real-life experience as they contribute to the construction of an on-campus
greenhouse.
Middle school and high school youth are spending time with hands-on learning.
The project began in September, 2003 and is due for completion in May, 2004. The
local neighborhood was invited to attend a community work day in February, but
it snowed! We did work together on a Saturday in early March. 
Join us on May 8th for Market Days at the Alternative Learning Center in
northeast Austin. Phone 512.423.5638 or 512.478-6883 for information.
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Decisions!Decisions!Decisions! Mentoring Program |
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| The LifeWorks Institute defines mentoring as: a dedicated relationship
where a mentor and mentee define and co-create success over and over again. Dana
Ellinger is writing an on-line manual with funds from a recent Webber Foundation
grant.
The "how to" manual includes definitions and applications, techniques and
tools, challenges and triumphs related to the mentoring process. Katherine Ann
Porter Charter High School in Wimberley is partnering with LifeWorks by
providing student leaders who want to become mentors.
Dana is using mentoring methods in a group setting with middle-school in
Eanes district. The Wild Things as they named themselves are interested in
environmental service projects.
Watch for more information about on-line publication of the mentoring manual.
Full Story »
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Become a
volunteer! |
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 Email us if you are interested in becoming a
mentor. We offer mentor training and matching within communities.
Congratulations to Emory Jones who found us through the national mentoring
program.
Sponsor a youth who wants to be mentored. Give a gift to mentoring camp.
If you have an idea for a fund-raising event to sponsor a youth for camp or
for the Decisions! Mentoring Program, give us a call. 
Click the link below to read about our Vision and Purpose.
Vision and
Purpose »
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Meet Our
Board Members |
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| Janelle Coffey, Ph.D. Rainbow Johnson, Ph.D. Stanley K. Smith Margo
Stewart
Our board members are the the glue of our organization. They ensure we are
focused and heading in a purposeful direction.
If you would like to recommend a board member who believes in a wide spectrum
of possibilities, and cares about infrastructure and systemic thinking, please
send us an email.
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