Written By Jodie Warren, Vancouver Sun
Students at Stratford Hall take part in the annual ‘clean up our community’ event after Halloween.
Handout / PNG
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Most would agree that a true education involves more than just
academics. A true learning experience should be multi-dimensional and
ideally, include a developed sense of the value of giving back.
John Wray, head of school for Mulgrave School, says developing
service-minded students is enshrined in the school’s mission, vision and
values statements. “The whole concept of service and service learning
is a fundamental part of our [school’s] character,” he says.
As an independent school, where students often have financial and
other advantages, service is particularly important, Wray says. “To some
extent, we serve a privileged community, and given that children come
from privileged backgrounds, it’s even more important that they are
serving their communities,” he says. Wray also believes the notion of
community service is deeply tied to the country’s culture. “It’s very
Canadian.”
Mulgrave is a K-to-12 school where students have opportunities for
service throughout their education, from fundraising to visits to senior
homes in younger grades, to volunteering at food and clothing banks in
middle grades. By Grades 10 to 12, these opportunities have an
international dimension through foreign trips focusing on service rather
than just learning about culture and history. Wray cites a recent trip
to India, where students supported doctors and nurses in vision and
dental tests in Ladakh.
Community service is also a central pillar in Stratford Hall’s
educational philosophy. “As an IB World School, contributing back to our
local and international communities is central in our mission,” senior
school principal Michelle Douglas says of the East Vancouver-based
International Baccalaureate school. “Throughout the curriculum, we
emphasize the development of students’ thoughtfulness, attentiveness and
awareness of local and international issues.”
In middle and senior grades, says Douglas, every student is engaged
in service learning throughout the year and completes “personal
reflections” on how their engagement is impacting themselves and their
community. There are group efforts (such as the annual ‘clean up our
community’ event after Halloween) and individual efforts (Douglas cites
one example where a Grade Five student started a water bottle drive
after interviewing homeless individuals and learning that they struggled
with access to clean drinking water).
“There is a direct link to IB Philosophy that is then fostered
from these experiences which is then brought into the classroom to
ensure relevance and investment for our students in their learning,”
says Douglas.
At the North Vancouver School District, the value of community
service is fostered through curricular offerings and student clubs. At
the high school level, students gain access to service through work
experience and leadership programs, volunteering at elementary feeder
schools and as counsellors at the Cheakamus Centre Outdoor School
Program. Students are also encouraged through extra-curricular efforts
such as the Kiwanis Care Club at Windsor secondary, where student
volunteers support Kiwanis Seniors Centre programs, and the Interact
Club, School Chapter of Rotary International, where students volunteer
in fundraising initiatives to raise money for educational opportunities
in developing countries.
Adam Baumann, the district’s director of instruction, sees these
opportunities as yielding many benefits to students. “Our students
achieve more when they are engaged, and volunteer opportunities are a
great way to engage our students,” he notes. “When students volunteer
and discover their passion, they are then able to bring it back into the
school, and discover more ways of how they can contribute to the
community and economy.”
Baumann also points to the broad-based admissions programs that many
post-secondary institutions, both in Canada and the U.S., are using to
assess applications, meaning “in addition to academic achievement,
post-secondary schools also look at the student’s contributions to the
greater community.”
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