PDK International is proud to support the Learning First Alliance’s celebration of Public Schools Week in 2025. Our public schools are an integral part of our nation’s strength, and we join with LFA’s partner organizations in celebrating the impact our public schools are having within their communities.  

Educators Rising is PDK International’s career and technical student organization (CTSO) that supports over 20,000 students nationwide in their exploration of a future career as educators. As a CTSO, we help districts develop their next cadre of teachers and education professionals through both chapter activities and through a CTE course that provides students practical experiences teaching younger students. 

For Public Schools Week 2025, we’d like to highlight the impact Educators Rising chapters and their students are having on their communities.  

During the week of February 3–7, 2025 our chapters celebrated Educators Rising Week. While originally founded as the Future Teachers of America in 1937, 2025 marks the 10-year anniversary of Educators Rising, which was acquired by PDK International in 1994 as the Future Educators Association. Service, and specifically service to others, is an important component of our program. And the first day of Educators Rising week is a celebration of service projects. 

Our national vice president of service, Char’Tayvious Edwards, wrote: 

“Schools that provide leadership opportunities and student organizations also boost engagement. Programs like Educators Rising, student government, and service projects let students take ownership of their learning. These experiences teach teamwork, responsibility, and problem solving, keeping students motivated.” 

As an organization that is rooted in a community-based approach toward ending the teacher shortage crisis, service to community is an important component of the experience as an Educators Rising student member.  

Examples of the types of service projects students engaged in include: 

• Creating advocacy videos that impact the work teachers are doing in their community, 

• Collecting supplies and donations that help students in their community, 

• Writing their local, state, and national officials to advocate for improvements to their public schools’ impact in their community, 

• Volunteering with community organizations, including soup kitchens and food pantries, 

• Organizing toy donation drives around the holidays, 

• Establishing a lending closet with professional apparel for students competing at Educators Rising state competitions, 

• Making donations to a local non-profit organization within their community, 

• Reading books to children within their community, 

• Creating a lending library for their community with donated books; 

• Hosting a teacher appreciation breakfast, 

• Volunteering at a senior community center. 

At the annual Educators Rising Conference, where over 3,000 students compete for the top recognition in over thirty education-related events and competitions, several require volunteering components. These require students to have engaged in community service projects in their communities during the school year. 

The range and breadth of service projects is wide and impactful. Some states, like Nebraska, provide recognition for chapters who engage their students in impactful service projects that benefit children. Texas organized a book drive to benefit students from across the state for students preK-5.  

At Del Norte High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the local school chapter has participated in a number of significant projects, including a Valentines drive for homeless students, developing a clothing bank to serve their school’s students, and providing emotional support to students during the school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Students engaged in service projects in their communities aren’t simply doing what they are told by an adult; our organization encourages students to take a leadership role with service projects and plan them out, from figuring out their budgets, conducting research, making decisions around logistics, and setting roles for students throughout the process. 

At the national level, Educators Rising hosts a service project at its annual National Conference. In 2024, students attending the national event participated in a project with Martha’s Table to host a book drive. This event benefitted children in the Washington, D.C. metro area.  

Engaging students in acts of service that impact not only their school community, but the larger community around their school, helps our students see the synergistic relationship that strong communities play in supporting their public schools, and how the public schools can provide supports back within their communities. As potential future educators, our students will know first-hand on how they can establish a network that goes beyond school walls to help them create amazing learning experiences for their future students. 

To learn more about what Learning First Alliance organizations are doing for #PSW25, visit https://www.publicschoolproud.org!