The Giraffe Heroes Program

If you'd like to have heroes' stories to tell your students, or if you want them to do some research on their own, there's a storybank of real heroes here, not pop stars or bulletproof guys in capes but actual people of all ages, races and locations who have stuck their necks out for the common good. It's set up in standard database form and is searchable by gender, age, location and by the general problem-area the person has worked on. It's open to you and your students, right now.

Click on the following links for details on how the Program works for specific situations~

• Giraffe civic education/service learning for all students
• Giraffe character education for all students
• Giraffe after school and community-based youth groups
• Giraffe gifted/talented/highly capable students

• K-2, 3-5, 6-9 & 10-12 Giraffe Heroes Program
• Voices of Hope - Literacy and service learning
• Stick Your Neck Out
• Training/Consultation for Program Implementation

Training Tomorrow's Heroes

• Giraffe Program evaluation in WA State
• Evaluation in eight afterschool sites in Willamalane, Oregon
• Evaluation in South Puget Sound
• Evaluation of results for 526 students
• Evaluations in Seattle

The Giraffe Heroes Program correlates positively with national standards in:

• Learning (McRel Standards Database—US Dept of Education),
• Risk & Prevention (Quest Institute's 40 Developmental Assets),
• Character Education (Character Education Partnership's Quality Standards), and
• Service-Learning (National Service-Learning Partnership's Essential Elements of Service-Learning Practice)

QUICK LOOKS

• Elementary students doing The Giraffe Heroes Program school-wide have collected newspaper, kitty litter and pet food for the local animal shelter, had a "Penny Drive for Puppies," a bake sale, and a "pledge pet walk," with all proceeds going to the Humane Society.
• A multi-age class in a small island community studied sea animals, then produced booklets containing facts about these animals and solutions to problems they face. The students then went in teams to other classes, teaching other students how to protect the ocean environment. They also spoke on the school intercom and placed an article in the local newspaper. Another class joined them on a beach cleanup field trip.
• Students at an urban school made presentations about homelessness to other classes at their school and held an auction to raise money for a local food bank. All auction items were donated or collected by the students; the entrance fee to the auction was a can of food.

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