Community Service in the Middle School
As part of the commitment to our Quaker beliefs, students are given many opportunities to participate in service throughout the year. Projects include food and clothing drives, the collection of toys and bedding for animal shelters, preparing food and assembling hygiene kits for the homeless, an ongoing relationship with our preschool and Friends House, and raising money for local charities. Every other year, a group of students participate in a June service trip, which in the past has included clearing trails and other work in national parks. Our service program continues to grow so that our students learn to be contributing members of both their community and the world.
Committees
All middle school students are expected to serve on a committee. Students provide their preferences at the beginning of the school year and are placed in a committee based on their preferred interests. Committees meet once per week, on Friday during Middle School Community Time, and their work meets a variety of needs both in and outside of the Middle School.
Advisory Activities
Advisory Activities During the winter holiday season, advisories choose a service activity to participate in as a group. In the past, Middle School advisories collected a storage unit’s worth of food, infant and toddler supplies, clothing and household goods for Sarah’s House, a facility for women and children fleeing abusive homes located at Fort Meade. Additionally, students have collected school supplies for Mi Refugio in Guatemala, worked with Heifer International, and assembled hygiene kits for S.O.M.E.
Middle School Service Trips
The Middle School offers a bi-annual service trip for 7th and 8th grade students. Since the initiation of the summer service trips in 2008, the Middle School has gone to the Rocky Mountains (Colorado), Acadia (Maine), and The Great Smoky Mountains National Parks (Tennessee). On these trips, 7th and 8th graders camp out in national parks and do community service projects such as trail maintenance, gardening, campsite clean-up, and invasive species removal. All this is completed while enjoying the company of friends and teachers.