We Strengthen Communities
Independent schools take an active role in their communities, encouraging children to contribute to the greater good.
Independent schools take an active role in their communities, encouraging children to contribute to the greater good.
-
Kent Place Students Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a Day of Service
On Monday, January 19, the Kent Place Diversity and Equity Parent Group hosted the fifth annual community-wide Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service to celebrate, reflect and serve in the name of Dr. King’s legacy. For this year’s Day of Service, themed “Understanding and Responding to Homelessness in Our Community,” Kent Place collaborated […]
-
International High School students honored for service in Ethiopia
On November 18, 2014, the Oakland City Council (CA) honored International High School students for their work in Ethiopia last spring. Senior Edom Tadesse’s dream was to someday travel to Ethiopia, so she recruited 14 students and organized a cultural and service learning trip. With the main focus of the trip to help rebuild TanaEyesus […]
-
Dynamo D-Term Students Work to Improve Their Local Community
“D-Term is an experiential, interdisciplinary service-learning project on which the entire 8th grade works from August through December,” explained Miriam Murtuza, Ph.D., Middle School English instructor. “The project has three key components: learning, doing and sharing.” The learning component of D-Term requires students to examine issues affecting our community. “This year, each 8th grader researched […]
-
How Exchanges Become Inspiration
In 2010, Flintridge Preparatory School’s Nicaragua Initiative was envisioned as a typical summer exchange program, with five Spanish students travelling to Managua. The passionate involvement of one participant — rising senior Naomi Hatanaka — provided inspiration that continues today, says Spanish teacher Manuel Nuñez, who oversees the program. “I didn’t have an awareness of what […]
-
Beyond Charity: Students Forge Connections with City Neighborhoods
Students at San Francisco University High School are constantly challenged to investigate their potential for enacting change, including the school’s Community Engagement Program, which connects student learning, social responsibility, and meaningful service. The Neighborhood Investigation unit helps familiarize ninth graders with a specific neighborhood’s history, community, and needs for the future before volunteer activities even […]
-
It’s in the Music: Students Help Revive Memories for Dementia Patients
A new partnership between The Healdsburg School and a local senior living community brings seventh and eighth graders together with residents suffering from moderate or acute dementia. Coordinated by science teacher Carrie Smith and two Healdsburg Senior Living directors, the project was inspired by “Alive Inside,” a documentary showing how music can elicit memories and […]
-
Students Use Technical Skills for Greater Good
All Lick-Wilmerding High School students take a minimum of two years of technical arts classes, including participation in a unique partnership that puts design-thinking skills to work for the benefit of others. The “Private Skills, Public Purpose” (PSPP) class begins with an empathetic stance—an in-depth study of social inequities and an exploration of privilege in […]
-
A New Dimension of Performance
As an instrumentalist at Walnut Hill, there are many chances to perform. Between solo recitals, chamber concerts, and performances with New England Conservatory Prep, our young musicians are no strangers to the stage; but this November, a number of them participated in something totally new. On November 9, eleven students spent a Saturday afternoon performing […]
-
It’s All About Relationships: PSPP Conference 2015
In his book entitled “Community,” Peter Block argues that in order for a community to succeed, each person within it must feel a sense of belonging. For this sense of belonging to be authentic, it should come from the actions we take as stewards of our communities. This idea of nurturing healthy, positive relationships in […]
-
Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating Our Community
Each year CDS students and their families participate in the creation of Día de los Muertos altars on the first floor of our main school building and in the preschool classrooms. El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico, Latin American countries, and right here in San Francisco, is […]
-
Sophomore Raises Money for Paralyzed Police Officer
Morristown-Beard sophomore Harrison Kern ’17 recently turned his passion for jewelry making into a way to help others. Kern, who studied jewelry making with teacher Jeanine Erickson as part of an Independent Study project last year, sold his pieces at Bottle Hill Day in Madison last month to benefit Officer Dave Cuozzo, a Union Police […]
-
Senior Teaches Self-Defense at Genesis Women’s Shelter
Victoria Siu, a senior at The Episcopal School of Dallas, led a self-defense class for women at the Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support as part of her service-learning project. Siu not only taught the class, but also worked with the organization to coordinate a date, time, and location for the class, and learn what kind […]