Year one
Volunteer Service
Members give back where they live, from community gardens to food drives, and earn volunteer hours along the way.
Year one
Career Exploration
Members step inside real workplaces and talk with the people who work there, from job sites to hospitals to studios.
Year two
Leadership
Leadership courses, college road trips and travel that widen what members see and who they become.
A journey, not a field trip
Thirteen years. Four stages. One climb.
Members can start as young as 5 and grow with SPARRKE all the way to 18. Each stage climbs a little higher, and older members help lead the younger ones.
Explorers
HOVER TO FLIP ↻Curiosity first: hands-on visits, kindness projects and the joy of trying new things.
Discoverers
HOVER TO FLIP ↻Service days and first looks inside real workplaces, with time to reflect.
Pathfinders
HOVER TO FLIP ↻Career exploration, mentors in the field and volunteer hours that count.
Ambassadors
HOVER TO FLIP ↻College road trips, travel and leading the members coming up behind them.
The SPARRKE standard
Every experience ends with reflection.
Because what members see should turn into what they know.
How an experience works
Before. During. After.
Before
Members prepare: what will we see, who will we meet and what do we want to learn.
During
Members experience it firsthand, with Catalysts and older members alongside them.
After
Members reflect, connect it to school and life, and apply it to the next step of the climb.
Designed by a learning expert
Every experience ends with reflection.
SPARRKE was designed by founder Dr. Barbara J. Kinney, who holds a PhD in Educational Psychology. Every experience follows the same four steps, so what members see turns into what they know.
Experience
Go and do it.
Reflect
Talk about what it meant.
Connect
Link it to school and life.
Apply
Carry it into the next climb.