Local leaders had a strong message for students who attended Oak Park and River Forest High School’s first-ever Civics Service-Learning fair on Aug. 23.

“Each and every individual has not only the right but also the responsibility to make the environment, that country, that state, whatever we want it to be,” said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis. “That is the value of being involved and being engaged.”

The event, held during first, second and third periods, was designed to optimize civic orientation among young people.

History teachers Matt Maloney and Steve Schwartz, along with Pre-Vocational Education Coordinator Brian Dubina, organized the event. Their goal: to help the more than 500 students who take Civics during the first semester connect with organizations that can help them fulfill the five-hour service learning requirement for the course.

During the event, students attended a panel discussion in the Little Theater led by local politicians including Davis, Illinois Reps. La Shawn Ford and Camille Lilly, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman and Village Trustee Ravi Parakkat, who is also founder of the Takeout 25 organization, formed to help local businesses during the pandemic.

Nonprofit leaders also attended. Katherine Watson, Hepzibah’s volunteer manager, let students know that Hepzibah is Oak Park’s oldest service agency, operating for 120 years. It offers after-school and summer programs at every elementary school in Oak Park. The agency also works within the foster care network, taking in children to offer residence for them in group homes.

The implementation of service hours can help encourage young people to be active in their

communities, according to Mike Carmody, co-founder and executive director of Opportunity Knocks, a River Forest organization that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There are many options for people to choose from, and they can use their interest to propel them their interest to propel them to give back to their community, he added.

Camille Y. Lilly, a representative for the 78th district and former student of OPRF confirmed how much influence an individual can have on other members of the community’s civic involvement. She shared that she went to Springfield and staffed, chaired and chief co-sponsored legislation that put civic education into schools in Illinois beginning in sixth grade.

Scaman, Oak Park’s village president, said she enjoys volunteering and serving the members of her community. For Scaman, ”Community is when we have a shared sense of ownership or leadership…

everybody feels like they belong and have a say in what the community looks like.”

Davis shared with students his education journey, saying, “I grew up in rural America, went to a one room school. Never went to school more than five months a year during my childhood. But I learned to read at an early age and I consider myself to be an avid reader for the rest of my life.”

Peggy Kell, a member of the League of Women voters, taught at Julian Middle School for 30 years. She said that her high school life was very club inclusive and the importance of club culture influenced her involvement in her community with organizations as an adult. She encouraged students to participate in their community whether it’s through clubs or voting.

The second part of the event was held in the South Cafeteria, where 25 organizations and groups came to the school to promote themselves and their respective missions.

These organizations included, but were not limited to, L’Arche, located in Forest Park, which is a group home that gives the chance for people with and without intellectual disabilities to connect; The Exoneration Project, located in Chicago,which provides free legal services for people who were wrongly convicted of crimes; The League of Women Voters of Illinois, which is a women-led organization that seeks to increase participation in public political life; and Opportunity Knocks.

The fair provided students numerous opportunities to engage with service organizations and civic leaders. “I definitely left the panel feeling more motivated to learn about ways I can participate in my community and commit to my civic duty,” said OPRF junior Jaela May.