Learn-and-Serve is a service learning program that began in the ROP Website Design classes at Mission Bay High School and later moved to the Multimedia and Visual Arts School at Crawford Educational Complex. In this program, students create websites for non-profit clients. This learning experience provides meaningful, community-oriented work while teaching valuable web design skills.

The first website was designed and programmed by a group of students for a local community service organization that feeds the homeless in the Pacific Beach area. Since that time, the program has provided student teams of web developers the opportunity to work with many local non-profit organizations in San Diego, benefiting not only the community but the students who work on the sites as well.

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The following is a student's reflection about her experience with service learning:

Bow Chinnapong
Mission Bay High School,
Class of 2004

From this experience, I can say that my classmates and I have changed
a lot. By contributing our time and talents, we have found fulfillment in our own lives that would not have been found and felt without a service learning project.

That is exactly what service learning is about. It is learning about our surroundings and developing an understanding of people, places, and things. It is about opening up students’ eyes outside of school and encouraging them to help others because it can make them feel good about themselves. It is about making them realize that they have potential to contribute to their school, community, and even the world! Everyone has something to give!