CSEE Community Service Award Winners 2004-2011

All Grades Service Programs

Addressing Poverty and Hunger
La Jolla schools collaboration

Outstanding Relationships with Agencies
Milton Academy
Christ Church Episcopal School
Punahou School

Pairing Classrooms with Communities
Brooklyn Friends School

Integration with Academics
La Jolla Country Day School

Empowering Students
North Shore Country Day School

2004 Theme: "Addressing Poverty and Hunger"

La Jolla Country Day School, The Bishop School, and Francis Parker School
La Jolla, CA

Excellence in creating a collaborative tri-school service project in response to local poverty and hunger

Often, the only interaction private schools get with one another is focused on rivalry. When teachers struggle to find time to accomplish goals within their schools, it is a true miracle that they are able to reach outside their schools to collaborate on something that involves one team. Bishop, La Jolla, and Francis Parker serve as examples of excellence in launching a three-year project with a  final goal of the creation of one classroom at the new Monarch School for homeless children in their area. This project serves to demonstrate the physical manifestation of the responsibility to act locally and to closely examine our definition of "community." Through education, outreach, and fundraising, students and faculty at these schools will raise $18,000 each year for three years. A matching donor has agreed to fund the remaining money to reach the cost of $150,000 for the new classroom. The Monarch School provides basic human needs (showers, food, washing machines) as well as education for children eight to eighteen.

Aside from the inter-school partnership, what makes this project stand out are several key elements. Students from each school sit on the planning board held at the Monarch School. Not only are students involved and empowered in the planning process but that planning occurs often at the site and among the population that is being served. Furthermore, students from the three schools as well as from Monarch have developed authentic and real relationships. The students themselves have initiated combined functions including dances and a coffeehouse involving all four schools. Finally, the $54,000 raised will not be tallied by individual schools but only as one sum. This seemingly small fact is one of the most important and symbolic aspects of the project. We admire these schools for their commitment to work together as one community to fight poverty and hunger.

 

2005 Theme: "Outstanding Relationships with Agencies"

With individual agency

Milton Academy
Milton, MA

Milton's relationship with Epiphany Middle School reflects many elements that promote excellent service. Epiphany is a tuition-free school for low-income families. The school day is twelve hours long and includes three meals for all 80 students. Twice a week for the entire academic year Milton works closely with staff and kids. Every Tuesday, a handful of students serve and clean up dinner that is served to Epiphany faculty and students before the evening study hall. Every Thursday, Milton students return to tutor during evening study hall. This commitment alone is tremendous in its consistency and in its variety of service. In addition, once a year 4th and 5th graders from Epiphany spend a day at Milton and attend a science, music, and writing lab designed and taught by the Milton junior class. Because of this ongoing relationship, several seniors choose Epiphany for their month-long service project. They work full time during May as class aides, tutors, and workshop presenters on journalism and public speaking. Last year, the founder of the school came to Milton's service learning class, Service for a Just Society, as a guest speaker. We commend Milton on exploring the many ways an agency and a school can be resources for one another.

Innovative agency relationships

Christ Church Episcopal School
Greenville, SC

This school's term "GRITS" (Growing Relationships Involve Time and Service) suits its service program well. Through its relationship with the John Wesley Breakfast Kitchen and the Sterling Recreation Center, Christ Church exemplifies the power of innovative thinking and motivation on the part of students, faculty, and agency staff. Students took a 9th and 11th grade-level service project at John Wesley in 2003 and turned the "project" into a weekly 6:15 a.m. student-cooked breakfast. Moreover, the lower school makes the placemats, parents help, a fundraiser for renovations was established, and the upper school organizes a supply drive. What is most impressive is that Christ Church is not stopping there. The long-term goal is to expand breakfast to Fridays as well, expand the program to include help with employment and housing, and raise the $38,000 needed to renovate the facility. This combination of direct, ongoing service, long-term goals, and fiscal support are outstanding in the service world. The relationship with Sterling Recreation Center demonstrates innovation in that- besides the weekly tutoring for the past four years that 10th graders have offered at the site, and student-generated projects including a computer center and library- Christ Church's service director sits on a committee made up of the local YMCA, the Literary Association, and the Presbyterian Church. This combination of Christ Church's energy, willingness to visit on an ongoing basis, and the director's joining other agencies on committees shows the community at large that the school understands that it is part of a world outside its classroom walls, not just in treating its problems but in working on solutions through regular communication and commitment.

Punahou School
Honolulu, HI

Punahou is unprecedented in its approach to agency relations. It decided to build its own public service center on campus! The Luke Center was started in 2002 as a service-resource center. With three school staff and the student body, it then launched a school-wide service initiative program. Every two-months a period during the school year is devoted to a different major issue. The center then highlights service opportunities related to the current issue for classes, teams, clubs, and individuals. The center also raises awareness about the issue both on campus and among the public. This idea of a school creating its own agency and then defining a relationship based on service is truly exemplary.

 

2006 Theme: "Pairing Classrooms with Communities"

Brooklyn Friends School
Brooklyn, NY
Carla Precht, Director of Community Service

Participation in community service is mandatory at all grade levels at Brooklyn Friends, a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade urban school with a diverse population. The community service program grows out of the school's mission and philosophy. Ethical and social values rooted in Quaker traditions are incorporated into the curriculum for all students.

Especially strong is the Middle School service program. At the start of sixth grade, students are paired in a local day care program called St. John's Place Family Center, affectionately known as "the Center." Along with staff at the Center, faculty work to develop valuable curricula to enhance the service experience of each student and plan the successful completion of project work which fulfills the needs of the Center.

Additionally, other resources are tapped to enhance the learning experience for students. For example, members of the Partnership for the Homeless were guest speakers in classrooms as students studied social issues. The director of the Center also makes class visits and is directly involved in educating the middle-school students about the mission of their work as well as the clientele they serve. Through English class assignments, written assessments, journal writing and evaluations, discussions in advisory groups, and site tours and orientations, students participate in the true meaning of experiential learning.

All students complete a questionnaire and offer supplemental projects to showcase their experiences. Reflection and follow-up is also facilitated by an in-class visit from the director of the Center. This approach ensures completeness and invites continuation of the initial work and connection between agency and school.

 

2007 Theme: "Integration with Academics"

 

La Jolla Country Day School
La Jolla, CA
Susan Nordenger, Directory of Service Learning

La Jolla Country Day School is a school on fire. The story they tell is remarkable- and exemplary- in its genesis and its development.

La Jolla Country Day's "fire" began with the book They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan, about three cousins caught up in the horrific violence of their country's civil war after losing their homes and families to raiders.

Author and San Diego resident Judy Bernstein did a presentation at school, and the rest is history in the making: a program we hope will perpetuate itself. There are some 3,500 Sudanese refugees in San Diego. After Bernstein's presentation, Upper School students and a number of parents began volunteering weekly with the Sudanese tutoring center. Elementary and secondary students began devouring time every Wednesday to help refugees with homework, English, and basic skills. About 25 volunteers participated the first spring.

Bernstein and one of the Lost Boys, co-author Benson Deng, opened the following school year by spending two days on campus and addressing the parent body one evening. By that time word had traveled to such an extent that the theater was full. A bake sale organized by the Upper School Community Service Board netted $2,200 to support Sudanese refugees.

One exemplary facet of La Jolla Country Day's program is the way it was integrated into the school. They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky was discussed in all history classes the first weeks of school. Each teacher integrated the book into his or her course. Bernstein, Deng, and another Lost Boy visited classes and spoke in assembly.

After the two days, an increasing number parents and students began to volunteer at the tutoring center: a clothing drive was organized, the tutoring program grew, and monthly activities to bring the school community and the Sudanese refugee community together began. Students organized barbecues, soccer games, and caramel apples at Halloween. Food collections focused on helping La Jolla Country Day's newfound friends.

The Middle School caught the fever, and home rooms prepared boxes of toiletries for families. The number of parents taking an active interest continued to grow: a March benefit screening of a new film about Sudan netted over $25,000. The film was followed by a panel discussion for parents and students. Upper School students created a PowerPoint presentation for the evening: reflections on their growth and learning over the past year as a result of this project. Eighth-grade students focused on semester-long research papers on Sudan for their course, Facing History and Ourselves, and a number of students planned science, drama, and creative-writing projects as summer activities for the Sudanese students.

Rarely do we hear of projects that so powerfully connect needs of the community, academic learning, and collaboration among the school, the parent body, and community agencies, and we laud La Jolla County Day's energy, creativity, and commitment to working as a team on a tremendously meaningful project.

 

 

2010 Theme: "Empowering Students"

Runner Up

North Shore Country Day School

Winnetka, IL

Tom Doar, Head of School

Drea Gallaga, Community Service Coordinator

 

North Shore Country Day’s motto is “Live and Serve,” and it is clear that this ethos is in practice at every grade level. To make each service learning opportunity meaningful, the students are given control over selecting and planning the projects, and learning about the issues at hand. In the Lower School, most service projects come out of the grade level, and it is typically student ideas that generate each project. For example, the Kindergarden class brainstormed and designed a pumpkin bake sale that turned their curricular study about pumpkins into a fundraiser for Heifer International.

 

In the Middle School, students do service in classes, in advisory groups, and through their student council. It is the student council that takes the reins and organizes non-curricular service projects and, impressively, they have also raised money to create budgets for their classes’ service learning projects.

 

Students are asked to take on even more responsibility in the Upper School. Community Service Coordinator Drea Gallaga describes the process: “In setting the year’s schedule, the students brainstorm potential organizations and projects, assign research tasks, report back to the group, vet the information, and agree on a roster of projects. Once they have finalized a list, they contact organizations, procure materials, negotiate assembly or advisory time if necessary, create publicity, and lead the other students.”  Ms. Gallaga notes that her job is simply to support students through this process and - to empower the students further - she does not intervene, even when mistakes are made.

 

In culmination of their years of service learning at North Shore Country Day, each Senior is required to complete a self-planned Senior Service Project. This project takes place during the final two weeks of the school year, and the students must devote at least sixty hours of service to a non-profit organization. Thorough this opportunity, students get to pursue an individual topic of interest, build a relationship with a local organization, and be ambassadors for their school.