When students from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School toured the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust building this year, it wasn’t just for a field trip. They were there as potential funders.

The students were taking part in a high school civics course that was taught by Scott Boddery, who previously taught American government at Davidson College in North Carolina. During the school year, the students toured over 100 Island nonprofits, getting hands-on experience and evaluating which organizations to give money too, thanks to a grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Bank Charitable Foundation. 

“One of the things I wanted to do as an instructor was sort of put the students into an arena and let them deal with the assessment and advocate for a particular nonprofit they thought was deserving. It was really interesting,” said Mr. Boddery.

Adapting the course from his time teaching at the collegiate level, Mr. Boddery wanted to introduce high school students to civic engagement and local philanthropy that had a real world impact. Throughout the course, students were in charge of learning about and assessing the nonprofit organizations financial needs, said Mr. Boddery.

It was a blustery day when they visited the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, which works to preserve and protect the future of fishing on Martha’s Vineyard.

“It was great to actually be able to show them what we do, and talk about everything on the waterfront,” said Shelley Edmundson, executive director of the organization. “They asked great questions and knew a lot of information about what we do in the community....Some of them could even say our mission better than I could.”

Based on their findings, the class awarded $5,000 to the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, $3,000 to MV Swell, an organization focusing on reproductive health care, and $2,000 to Harbor Homes, which provides assistance to the Island’s homeless population. 

This was the first year for the initiative and partnership with the Martha’s Vineyard Bank Charitable Foundation.

“This was something that was very new, and it was really exciting,” said Jenna Ray, the community engagement director at the MV Bank Charitable Foundation.

The experience, coupled with extensive in class exercises, enabled the students to learn the inner workings of nonprofit organizations and some of the difficulties they face. The class also authored a white paper documenting their research. 

Mr. Boddery will continue his civics course with support from the MV Bank Charitable Foundation during the coming school year. 

“I’m looking forward to next year and expanding the scope of what we investigated, what we looked at and then talking to more of these organizations,” he said.