1. OCTOBER 2013 1312 LEADERSHIP FOR STUDENT ACTIVITIES
s educators, we’re often torn between using the
proverbial stick and carrot to inspire students.
Motivating students to engage in service is
no different. We can use service as a carrot,
saying things like, “This looks great on a college
résumé.” On the other hand, schools often use
community service hours as a stick—a means of punishment
for truancy or foul language. Ultimately, résumé boosting,
box-checking, and punishment all fail to honor the spirit of
service. We need a new approach.
Service is powerful because it has the ability to bend the
course of history to one that is more just, egalitarian, and
inspiring. Organizations such as the Red Cross, the Peace
Corps, and Doctors Without Borders have helped change
millions of lives in the midst of crises by nursing people back
to health, helping them flee dangerous situations, and restoring
their lives after disaster. Through financial service—generous
giving—individuals have improved the world by accelerating
cancer research, preserving precious art, and educating
students. Others are more directly involved: Mother Teresa and
Martin Luther King dedicated their lives to serving others and
sacrificed their well-being for the sake of others. Collectively,
the concept of service inspires us, yet the current service
paradigm falls short for many young people.
The generation that is now passing through high
schools—often called the millennials—is looking for service
opportunities with a sense of purpose. Research indicates that
this generation is idealistic and highly interested in playing a
role in attaining an ideal future. According to David Burstein
in Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaping Our
World, “Today’s Millennials generally view change in society as
a project to work on, not something to demand.”
A new approach gets students involved in service.
ryan findley
Millennials long to be part of something more bold and
hands-on. Simply put, they want to make history, not just live
through it.
Invisible Children (IC) is an organization that grew out of
three college kids’ accidental trip to Uganda. IC has inspired
this generation’s desire to make history. It has produced 11
movies, hosted five global events, and raised over $50 million in
just 10 years. The organization has also ventured into lobbying,
peacekeeping, and child soldier rehabilitation and education.
IC has mobilized millions of youth worldwide with a simple
question asked in each of their films, “What side of history will
you be on?”
Drawn by the profundity of the question, a genuine
emotional appeal, and a generational understanding of justice,
young people have joined the charge en masse. IC has shown
the film to over five million people, provided 4,500 scholarships
to rehabilitated child soldiers, and played a pivotal role in
the passage of the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and
Northern Uganda Recovery Act signed by President Obama in
2010.
Because IC’s issue is obscure, it forced the organization to
create innovative ways to motivate otherwise disinterested
young people. They employed the following techniques—all of
which could also be utilized to inspire your students to engage
more fully in your service projects.
Creating context. IC understood that its target audience was
undereducated about the issue so it created context around
the “invisible children” to help their audience see both the
significance of the problem and the historical imperative to
generate solutions. They didn’t just create opportunities for
service, they created chances to impact the world.
Millennials long to be part
of something more bold
and hands-on. Simply put,
they want to make history,
not just live through it.

2. OCTOBER 2013 1514 LEADERSHIP FOR STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Shooting for the moon. Instead of asking for a bare minimum
that young people could give, they asked for the most. IC
asked for people to make sacrifices for a cause, which struck
an altruistic chord among the millennials, who grew up far
removed from the hardship they saw on-screen.
Supporting, not babysitting. IC challenged its network to
raise money, plan rallies, contact celebrities, and lobby elected
officials—a new experience for members of the network. After
setting desired outcomes and some guidelines along the path,
IC supported its network through phone banks, chat rooms,
and text lines, but never micromanaged the process.
Trusting. Crowdsourcing much of their outreach, IC showed
great trust in its network, which fostered a sense of loyalty to
the organization and cause. Though their constituents were
largely inexperienced, IC believed in the youths’ abilities to
solve problems and create solutions that they themselves
could not.
Storytelling. IC used powerful, heartfelt media, leveraged by
young people’s connectivity, to mobilize people. Ultimately,
they capped the service with big, inspirational moments that
brought closure to those stories.
Perhaps even more inspirational than its success in
mobilizing young people are the effects they have had on the
youth contributing to their cause. Beth Karlin, director of the
Transformational Media Lab at UC-Irvine spent three years
researching the impact the IC experience had on the outcomes
of participants. In Educating, Empowering & Engaging Through
Film-Based Activism, Karlin reported that:
More than 75% of those studied “increased their ability to
apply knowledge and skills to help solve problems or make
meaningful contributions to the world had changed as a
result of their participation in IC
More than 66% “reported that personal values or priorities
had changed as a result of their involvement with IC”
More than 50% “reported that they had gained self-
confidence or developed and/or improved leadership
skills”
More than 50% of those studied “increased their
motivation to do well in school, opened up job or career
opportunities, and helped them prepare for college.”
Giving Millennials a chance to explore their civic duties and
personal capabilities in a freer, yet more ambitious setting,
IC achieved results that most service coordinators can only
dream of achieving. Rarely are coveted 21st century skills
cultivated with such efficacy.
Service is crucial to the development of our youth. Equally
important, though, is matching generational trends to service.
Our young people want to stop counting hours, logging reports,
and eking by minimum requirements. Rather, they desire to
step into grand adventures that give them pictures to Instagram,
quotes to tweet, and stories to blog—all chronicling how they
played a part in changing the course of history.
Ryan Findley is a senior faculty member of entrepreneurial leadership at
the African Leadership Academy in Honeydew, South Africa.
“It was one of the best
experiences I’ve had in
my 11 years in education!
Thank you!
”Michelle Olson, West Linn
High School, OR
November 8–10, 2013
Denver, CO
January 31–February 2, 2014
Washington, DC
February 14–16, 2014
Chicago, IL
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