What is AP with WE Service?
College Board has partnered with the WE Service organization to create the AP with WE Service Project. The initiative is to engage students in Service Learning (click here to read more about service learning). Students take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it to real life situations helping to find solutions while working on their leadership, collaboration, and analytic skills and learning how to become civic responsible.
Student Recognition
Students who take an AP with WE Service course, meet the recognition requirements described below, and take the AP Exam for that course can earn a program recognition that will be communicated to colleges and universities on ETS Score Reports.
High schools will also have the option to indicate on students’ transcripts that they have completed AP with WE Service for a particular course.
Recognition Requirements
In order for their students to earn the service-learning recognition, AP teachers must plan for in-class instruction and activities related to service learning. Each student must engage in a recommended 20 hours of service, which includes in- and out-of class work.
Students must also earn a 2 on a 3-point scale on all rubric categories within the following stages and evaluation criteria:
- Investigate and Learn: Students explore topics related to a real-world challenge or opportunity.
- Action Plan: Students develop a plan to implement their service-learning project, including one local or national action and one global action.
- Take Action: Students implement their action plan.
- Record and Reflect: Students create a portfolio to record data and their reflections about their project.
- Report and Celebrate: Students present the results of their service-learning project.
AP with WE has two modules students can choose to focus on over the course of the year: Food Insecurity and Hunger as well as Access to Healthcare. At MMHS students break up into three or four groups and each group selects which module they will focus on. Students take Water and look at how water impacts Food Insecurity and Hunger as well access to healthcare. Not having access to safe, clean drinking water affects the health, education, and economic development of so many in this world.
- Investigate and Learn: Over the course of the year students read books, interview various experts, watch documentaries, and read numerous articles throughout the year. During the summer students are assigned to read A Long Walk for Water and are required to write a one page essay about the book. When students return to school students are divided into groups to discuss the book. This book will introduce students to the water crisis in Africa and the dramatic effects it has on millions of lives.
- Action Plan: Students participate in three main activities throughout the year.
1. Walk for Water Global Outreach/Local Awareness Together as a class, AP Human Geography students will be taking part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for Water for South Sudan, a non-profit organization drilling wells and transforming lives. This organization was started by Salva Dut, one of the main characters in A Long Walk to Water, the novel the students read over the summer. The money raised will help fund a well in a needy South Sudanese community. For more information about the work of Water for South Sudan, please visit the website at www.waterforsouthsudan.org . Each group assigns roles to all members in the group. Each group selects a representative who collaborates with other group representatives to organize the fundraising event: A Walk for Water!
2. Local Awareness Documentary: In addition to fundraising, each group is responsible to create a 10 minute documentary to share with the local community about their topic. (See Below)
3. Humanitarian Mapping: Global Outreach: Throughout the year students also do Humanitarian Mapping using Open Street Mapping (OSM) to help communities all around the world who are facing water problems. The following project was selected:https://tasks.teachosm.org/project/388 (to learn more about OSM click here)
- Take Action: Students are solely responsible to organize, advertise, and implement the Walk for Water Event, create the documentary, and participate in OSM mapping project in class.
- Record and Reflect: Students create a portfolio to record data and their reflections about their project.
- Report and Celebrate: MMHS students share their knowledge with the community at the local community store.
How Water Impacts Food Insecurity and Hunger
Student Documentaries
How Water Impacts Access to Healthcare
Student Documentaries
Walk for Water Event
On the day of the walk, each student walks around a marked track at the school, while carrying one or two one-gallon jugs filled with water. Each gallon is just over 8 lbs. Often children their age carry 50 lb jerry cans for hours each day. Students gain empathy and understanding of what it is to have to walk so many miles each day to fetch water. Having a well close to home transforms lives in developing countries. People will not get sick from water related diseases and miss out on an education or income. Girls can go to school and get an education rather than having to walk with their mothers to fetch water. Women can spend the hours they previously used walking and fetching water on more productive tasks – growing food, caring for children, making an income. Mashpee APHG students have raised around $1000 so far to help the organization.
Class of 2019 AP Human Geography
Check out what Mashpee AP Human Geography Students have created over the years. A Podcast created by students to discuss topics they learned in AP Human Geography.