Program Highlight: ITOP Service Projects

One of the core components of our International Teen Outreach Program (ITOP) is the opportunity for young people to give back to their communities – and have fun doing it! We wanted to share highlights from a few of our favorite service projects that ITOP students have participated in over the last few months.

ITOP students from John F. Kennedy Middle School participated in two blanket projects this winter. In one, the teens partnered with Project Linus to create tie blankets, which were distributed to children in Nashville's foster care system. In another project, students decorated quilt squares with More Than Warmth, which were then sewn into blankets and distributed to communities in several developing countries around the world.

Students in the ITOP programs at Glencliff High School and MAMS worked with the Nashville Tree Foundation and several other organizations to plant trees at Johnson Alternative Learning Center on Releafing Day, an annual celebration of planting trees. This was a great way for students to help beautify their communities and an important way for youth to help enhance the overall well-being of their city while getting their hands dirty.