Community Service in the Lower School
Whether singing a song about helping others or taking lunch scraps to the campus compost heap, Lower School students engage in the Friends testimony of service to others and to our environment. Our service-learning projects are also an opportunity to learn, by providing active, hands-on, and developmentally appropriate activities.
Types of Service
Throughout the year, Lower School children give back to our School community and our surrounding neighbors in a variety of ways:
- Over the course of the year, Lower School students link with Friends House, the local Quaker retirement community, providing hours of entertainment and companionship to residents. Whether presenting a play or reading together, all benefit from this inter-generational connection.
- Several Lower School classes link with Upper School buddies on a regular basis, performing stewardship tasks to help our campus and environment.
- Classes make blankets for hospitalized children, mix casseroles for soup kitchens and collect clothing for local homeless shelters, and pack Smart Sacks for hunger organizations--hands-on activities that service others in real and concrete ways.
- Our Art Barn is abuzz in the fall with Lower School children making one-of-a-kind bowls for the School's Empty Bowl supper, devoted to raising awareness of issues of the hungry.