On May 8, 2002, the work of Marlene Stanley and her fifth graders from Barry Elementary School took first place at the 2002 Illinois Project Citizen portfolio competition. Students from nine classes in Illinois sent portfolios chronicling the steps and future plans for their service projects to the capitol building in Springfield where the judging took place.

The 2002 Winning Project

Barry School fifth graders with their project		Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White with the winning portfolio

The Barry students focused their project on “How can we help Barry Students get along better?” Concerned that there was too much fighting and teasing during the school day, these students surveyed all 257 third- through sixth-grade students and teachers at Barry and discovered that 81% of Barry students felt that problem of “not getting along” was indeed serious and frequent.

Using the steps of Project Citizen, the Barry fifth graders examined approaches to handling the problem and ultimately developed three school policies they believe will help kids at their school to get along better. Their proposal includes a plan for academic clubs during school and social and athletic clubs after school to help students develop friendships, school spirit and positive communication skills. They also want to implement special conflict resolution classes for students who frequently get in trouble, as an alternative to going to the assistant principal's office.

The Barry fifth graders have met with the teachers, administrators, the PTA and the Barry Local School Council in an attempt to implement their proposal. These students also presented their findings and proposal to Chicago Public School and Illinois State Board of Education officials at the regional Project Citizen hearing held at Pickard Elementary in April 2002. Barry students have received support from the teachers, the school counselor the school administration. They are currently working with their principal, Alice Vila, and the LSC to implement part - and maybe all - of the plan for next year.

The fifth graders' involvement in Project Citizen seems to have already affected behavior. Teacher Marlene Stanley said, “I had very little conflict in class because students identified this problem early in the school year. The program has motivated students to get involved in our school. They believe what they think and say has genuine worth.”



Last updated: October 2, 2002

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