Delaware Association for Public Administration DAPA Public Service Reader
Engaging the Next Generation of Public Servants
—by Mark Deshon | download PDF 
When you were six years old, what was your view of public servants? Did you even have an idea of what public service is?
This past spring, DAPA president Julia O’Hanlon and council member Kathy Wian, who both work at the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration, partnered with a local elementary school on a project that would heighten young people’s awareness of the importance of public service in our society.
Having a germ of an idea of what could be done to help celebrate Public Service Recognition Week, O’Hanlon and Wian approached Newark, Del., first-grade teacher Jo Anne Deshon [wife of DAPA member Mark Deshon] to talk with her about collaborating on a lesson plan that would involve her John R. Downes Elementary School class and maybe serve as a model for the entire grade level school-wide or beyond. She quickly came up with a plan.
The concept was simple: Deshon would talk with her class about jobs grown-ups have, have them try to identify which jobs they felt were truly important or that benefited other people or that helped the world in some way, then each of the kids would write about a particular job from their own perspective and illustrate the page on which it would appear. Deshon decided to have the kids write their thoughts in the form of a “thank you” letter to a type of public servant. So the project integrated social studies, writing, and art.
“The kids were immediately enthusiastic!” Deshon said. “After brainstorming jobs from A to Z, they started choosing the jobs they most wanted to write about.”
Having borrowed the raw pages from what the class titled “Earth’s Best Jobs,” DAPA produced a small booklet and added the subtitle “public service workers help the world.”
At the May 6 meeting that DAPA co-sponsored with the University of Delaware’s School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy, the 28-page, full-color booklet was showcased to complement the meeting’s theme and accent Public Service Recognition Week. This meeting featured American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) President-Elect Paul Posner, who spoke about public service as being the “bedrock of American society.” DAPA had prepared a display for the event, which showed samples of the children’s artwork and a few copies of the finished booklet.
Deshon invited two of her students (left) to stand with the display and help answer questions during the opening reception.
Wian notes, “The booklet authored by Mrs. Deshon’s first-grade class far exceeded our expectations. Participants enjoyed the opportunity to chat with her students and listen first-hand to their views about public service.”
A couple weeks later on behalf of DAPA, O’Hanlon (far right) and Wian (far left) visited Deshon’s classroom to present certificates of appreciation to the children, share with them the finished booklet, and give them a pizza party as a way of saying “thank you” for making this booklet such a hit.
O’Hanlon reflected on the visit. “During our visit with the class, the students were so excited to talk about what went into creating the booklet. Each one remembered his or her specific role in putting it together.” She went on to say, “This type of partnership is important to keeping future generations engaged and excited about public service and aware of all the people who carry out important jobs within their community.”
Based on this project, O’Hanlon (right, with kids) has submitted a poster proposal for the next ASPA annual conference (to be held in March 2010). DAPA is making the booklets available for a small donation, the proceeds from which will support DAPA’s efforts to educate children about the importance of public service.
Deshon, who was interested in implementing this project in her classroom from the beginning, said, “The kids were so proud of the finished project and loved the attention they received from DAPA!”
Wian added, “I believe we all felt humbled and encouraged by these young citizens and left [the May event] feeling a little better about our work and little more hopeful about the future.”
Editor’s Note: If you are interested in a copy of “Earth’s Best Jobs” for a small donation to DAPA, contact Julia O’Hanlon.