Community Service
At Chapin, the concept of service to others begins in the Lower School. Projects are mostly done in homerooms, where the girls work as a classroom community. Teachers discuss projects with students so that the children understand whom their efforts are helping.
Some service projects involve all Lower School students — such as a Halloween candy drive for children with cancer or collections of warm clothing and food supplies — and others are classroom-specific, perhaps because they relate to a certain grade’s curriculum. For example, last year Class 3 coordinated a book drive for a school in Machakos, Kenya, a community the students had studied in class.
 In keeping with the school’s mission, the Middle School community service program instills in students a sense of community responsibility. Through hands-on activities and service-learning projects, students gain an understanding of the meaning of their work, strengthen their connections to their class and community, and learn that service can be its own reward.
Highlights of the Middle School community service program include Class 5’s visits to the Mary Manning Walsh home for the elderly, Class 6’s improvement of underserved New York City parks, and Class 7’s volunteer work with neighborhood organizations. Girls take on increasing responsibility for community service as they move through the Middle School, and Class 7 students help to teach younger girls about serving others.
In the Upper School, students take the lead in choosing community service activities. Teachers encourage them to look outside their own lives and think about ways in which they can help others. Upper School students recently participated in the Central Park Tag Sale, helping with crowd control and stocking and maintaining the sales floor, and they will also volunteer at a soup kitchen, throw a holiday party for homeless children, and help to paint a public school.
Community service in the Upper School is supported by a division of Self-Government called S.O.S., or Student Organized Service. The S.O.S. president, elected by the entire Upper School, runs the organization with guidance from two faculty advisers, and each class elects grade representatives. S.O.S. maintains a comprehensive Web site of volunteer opportunities for students; click here to visit its page.
Last updated 03.02.08
This page overseen by the Director of Student Life
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