sites program highlights
The SITES Program was launched during the 1991-92 school year. Through its curricular-based community service-learning focus, the Program continues to actively engage students in the affairs of the community while integrating these experiences into their English and Social Studies Curricula. During the course of its history, the Program has achieved many milestones and received numerous awards because of the efforts of its students. Some of these include:
- Winners of the AARP Innovation Award for the state of Ohio, 2008.
- Learn & Serve America Model School, 2008-2009, Ohio Department of Education
- Continued selection of the SITES Program as a state "model" for the service-learning programs by the Ohio Department of Education's Learn and Serve America Office. (1998-2006 and 2008-2009)
- Selection of SITES as one of seven Ohio recipients for the Corporation for National and Community Service's SOS (Safety in Our Schools) Grant - an initiative to develop replicable service-learning projects and activities tied to hometown safety. (2004-2006)
- Selection of SITES students to assist with the Veterans History Project, sponsored by the Library of Congress, during the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. (2004)
- Inclusion of the Ohio Bicentennial Service-Learning Schools Project as an exemplary example of a statewide initiative in President Bush's Students in Service to America Guidebook, which has been distributed to every school system in the nation. (2003)
- Selection of NOHS as one of the 70 high schools nationwide recognized as a National Service-Learning Leader School. (First certified 1999-2001; re-certified 2001-2003)
- A presentation to the National Conference of Volunteers on the SPURS Reading Program as a "best practice" for cross-age literacy programs in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (2001)
- Selection of SITES students to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. (2000)
- Inclusion of the SITES Program as a positive model in the United Stated Department of Education's and the Corporation for National and Community Service's Declaration fo Principles for Improving Out Schools and the Challenge of Citizenship. (2000)
- Selection of a SITES instructor to serve on the design group of the National Service-Learning Leader School Program, chaired by Ted and Nancy Sizer. (1998-2000)
- Selection of the SITES programs instructors to USA Today's All USA Teaching Team (1999)
- Selection of a SITES student to speak at a Congressional Reception in Washington, D.C. (1999)
- Selection of the SPURS Reading Program as a state "model" on the OhioReads web site (1999)
- Selection of a SITES instructor as a Wal-Mart "Teacher of the Year." (1999)
- Selection of the SITES Program as an Ohio BEST Practice recipient. (1998)
- Selection by the East Ohio Gas Company as Cuyahoga County's Excellence in Education Award recipient. (1998)
- Selection of a SITES instructor for the Unsung Heors in Education Award presented by Northern Life Insurance. (1996)
- Selection of the SITES Program as Ohio's representative to the National Service Fair in Washington, D.C. (1996)
- Selection by the Public Service Consortium of Greater Cleveland for the Intergovernmental Service Excellence Award. (1996)
- Selection as a participant in the First National Service Forum hosted by First Lady Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C. (1995)
- Presentation of the SITES Program at the National Youth Service-Learning Conference held in Albuquerque, New Mexico (1994)l Orland, Florida (1997 & 2004); Providence, Rhode Island (2000); and Minneapolis, Minnesota (2003).
- Selection by USA Today as one of America's 50 outstanding grassroots programs for Community Solutions for Education. (1994)
- Selection as 1 of only 20 service-learning programs nationwide to serve as the basis for the national evaluation of the Federal Community Service Acts of 1990 and 1994, conducted by Brandeis University.
- Selection of SITES instructors by the Ohio Department of Education to write the Curricular Program Guide for Service-Learning for the public schools of Ohio. (1993)
- Selection by the Ohio Community Education Association as Ohio's Outstanding Youth Service Program. (1993)