We R Community program gives students philanthropy experience

Between homework, exams and extracurricular activities, students at 14 local high schools are finding time to run their own foundations.

They will spend the school year creating a mission statement, researching nonprofit organizations, reviewing grant applications and funding grants that will help the community.

As part of the Public Education Foundation's We R Community program, each school will have $5,000 to fund nonprofit groups.

Since the program's inception in 2008, students have awarded $130,000, and another $70,000 will be awarded this year.

Participating high schools are Basic, Chaparral, Cimarron-Memorial, Clark, Desert Oasis, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Liberty, Mojave, Northwest Career and Technical Academy, Rancho, Sierra Vista, Valley and West Career and Technical Academy.

A teacher at each of the schools picks a class to participate in the program and integrates the We R Community curriculum into the class, which requires about one hour each week.

Leslie DeVore, program manager for We R Community, said the program has had teachers in a variety of subjects, including Spanish, science, business, history and leadership.

"There are so many academic principals connected to this program," DeVore said. "It's also co-curricular, so that the teachers, no matter what subject they're teaching, they can weave in our mini-curriculum."

Teachers are provided with a handbook with lessons to go over with the class when time is available.

"Everybody understands volunteerism," DeVore said, "but philanthropy is a more complex subject.

"It's not just passion and volunteerism, although that's a big part of it. Students learn to understand the business part of it. ... You can't solve all the problems of the world with the $5,000, so you need to be pretty discerning about it."

The program is funded by several local sponsors, including founding sponsors USAA Savings Bank, the Stern Family Foundation, the DeVore Family Fund and others.

Ciera Cypert, a junior at the West Career and Technical Academy, 11945 W. Charleston Blvd., went through the program last year in her sophomore geology class. She's helping with the sophomore class this year, too.

"I like best that they gave us a lot of responsibility," Cypert said, "and they put a heavy load on us and they expect us to get it done. It's exciting because I'm only a teenager and they're giving me so much responsibility. It makes me feel like an adult."

Cypert and her classmates donated their money last year to three local organizations that help rape victims.

She said the program has helped her as a student and as the junior class vice president, since she joined the community service committee, which fundraises at the school to donate to community groups.

Community service is now a bigger part of her life, she said, because of her experience in the We R Community program.

"It's definitely diverged my path into something more serious," Cypert said. "It made me think more about ... how I can help out in Las Vegas."

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.