Service learning, which the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction defines as, “a teaching method that engages students in solving problems within their schools and communities as part of their academic studies,” is a key component of modern education and it’s something that many Milwaukee Public Schools students experience through a variety of programs, including some offered by Milwaukee Recreation.

One of the latter, that Milwaukee Rec has offered for more than a decade now thanks to a partnership with Lions Clubs International is the Lions Quest program.

In 2013, Milwaukee Recreation introduced Lions Quest – a self-confidence, conflict resolution, and goal setting program with a service learning focus – in the City of Milwaukee, and that year more than 250 young people completed six service learning projects with partners like the Wisconsin Humane Society, City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works, the Hunger Task Force, and assisted living centers.

Last year, 159 MPS students participated in Lions Quest service learning projects at 11 sites, according to JaTerrance Young, Milwaukee Recreation’s Supervisor of CLC Programs.

The program has its roots in 1975, when teenager Rick Little surveyed more than 2,000 high school students asking about the issues that most concerned them. Deciding to try to create a program that would help his peers develop skills and build character, Little consulted veteran educators and got started.

His program quickly became popular and soon expanded to include younger students, too. Little ultimately founded the International Youth Foundation and served as its CEO.

In 1984, Lions Club International – a community service organization with 1.4 million members in nearly 50,000 clubs around the world – began supporting the program.

Lions Quest programs began to pop up around the Milwaukee area, too, including in Brown Deer and Greendale by the dawn of the 1990s.

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In 2002, Lions Club took over the program and over the years has awarded more than 350 grants totalling more than $20 million to sprout Lions Quest programs.

Another key figure in the history of Lions Quest was Mike Buscemi, who co-founded Quest International and over the course of decades, traveled to more than 25 countries on five continents to help establish the program.

When the program launched in Milwaukee in 2013, one of the first projects was “eco-friendly” artwork painted on city garbage cans by students for a neighborhood beautification project in partnership with Ald. Joe Davis Sr. and the Milwaukee Department of Public Works.

“The murals I’ve seen on the containers are creative and amazing, and they serve as a visual reminder of how important it is to keep the campus and the neighborhood clean for everyone,” Davis told the daily newspaper at the time.

Recently, the Lions Quest students at LaFollette School visited a local memory care facility and made cards, gift bags with coloring books, and snacks to pass out to residents, and also engaged with residents by playing games, having conversations and reading books together.

At the Lincoln Center of the Arts CLC, students focused on mental health in the Covid era, interviewing other students, creating posters and banners, hosting forums and other events to generate awareness.

The arrival in Milwaukee of the program was apparently unrelated to its previous adoption in nearby suburbs. Instead, it seems that a Milwaukee Recreation staffer heard about it while traveling out of state.

“In 2013, I found out about the Lions Quest Program at an After School Conference in California,” wrote Helen Hamilton, who was Milwaukee Recreation supervisor for our before- and after-school programs, in a report to the state DPI.

“In my school district our middle and particularly high schools were having many fights and issues after school. I was researching and looking for more structured programs for our middle and high school students. I inquired about the program and found that the headquarters was located in Oak Brook, Illinois and decided to pilot the program.

“We have been successfully implementing the program for the past five years in all of our high schools, traditional middle schools and selected 6th-8th grades in our K-8 after school sites.”

In the 2018 report, Hamilton – who still works at Milwaukee Recreation today – offered a detailed explanation of the program.

“Students participate in large and small group inquiry-based and project-based activities using Lions Quest ‘Skills for Adolescence for Out-of-School Time’ curriculum and ‘Changes and Challenges’ student book. Activities include projects on building self-confidence, improving communication and listening skills, conflict resolution and managing emotions, violence prevention, problem solving, good decision making and goal setting,  

“Students read and discuss thought-provoking articles utilizing writing assignments to enhance language arts skills, and ideas designed to encourage family and community involvement. Students also explore personal and social responsibility by choosing and participating in a Service Learning Project. The school district agreed to provide all students that complete a service learning project through Lions Quest district credit for graduation.”

Hamilton explained that each Lions Quest program must have at least 20 participating students and she added that Milwaukee Recreation seeks out “at-risk” students for the program.

At the start of each school year, each program site must attend Lions Quest training. A second training session follows in January, with a focus on the service learning component.

Then, the students meet once or twice a week for Lions Quest curriculum-based instruction.

“The first semester is strictly focused on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and community building amongst the students,” she wrote. “The second semester is all focused on Service Learning, students contributing and giving back to their communities.

“Service Learning is student-led with their instructors serving as adult advisors. The students conduct research on their communities and vote to decide what project is most needed and will have the highest impact on individual community needs.”

Throughout the course of the school year, Hamilton and a Lions Quest staffer visited the programs to provide support.

Initially, Lions Clubs grants supported the implementation of Lions Quest in Milwaukee Public Schools, but a few years later, funding was shifted to the district’s budget.

In 2017-18, 16 sites in Milwaukee participated in the program, and, Hamilton said, the results were easy to see.

“More positive leaders are emerging from the high-risk population and high-risk students are starting to view school in a different way,” she noted. “Overall attendance has increased, and there has been a decrease in fights and suspensions. Students want to do more Service Learning Projects than required. Over 600 students have received the required service learning credit through the Lions Quest Curriculum for graduation.

“More students are taking advantage of more educational opportunities, such as applying for apprenticeship programs, researching and applying to college or trade schools. Students are being recognized by their school administration, teachers, and fellow students for their accomplishments, which increase their overall self-esteem.

"It has also built increased awareness and sensitivity toward others. Because of the impact of the community service learning projects, even the community is starting to view our students differently.”

At Lincoln Center for the Arts on the city’s lower East Side, the focus this year was on mental health among teens because, the kids decided after a survey and subsequent discussion, since the pandemic, “everything for them had shifted dramatically,” according to a program wrapup.

While some students interviewed, canvassed and surveyed other teens, others created posters, banners and stickers and others focused on finding and sharing with other students information on depression, peer pressure, burnout and anxiety.

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According to the wrapup statement, “Collectively, the LCA CLC team made vision boards, affirmation cards that were hung up on the trees outside the school for passerbyers to read, and we also had a hygiene drive where products were collected for those students in need of basic hygiene care.

“The LCA CLC students and staff chose to make a difference and generate awareness around a topic that may sometimes go unnoticed as individuals stay busy with their day to day routines and agendas.”

Meanwhile, at LaFollette Elementary in the Borchert Field neighborhood, the Lions Quest project worked to give back to seniors in the community.

Students visited a local memory care facility and shared cards, snacks and gift backs with coloring books that they’d created.

The youth also engaged residents by playing games, reading to them and sharing conversations. Through these interactions, the kids learned that among the residents were former teachers, lawyers, dentists and even the former superintendent of a school district.

“The youth learned about being compassionate, and how they should treat every adult with respect and dignity regardless of their physical and or mental ability,” the LaFollette CLC summary noted.

“They realized that one day this could be them or a loved one.”

(NOTE: This article was written for Milwaukee Recreation's institutional history project. While the topic was provided by Milwaukee Recreation, the content was not.)