Page 6 - Priorities #25 2004-January

6
Everyone Gains From
Community Service
Seek to do good for others, and you will find fulfillment. Forget yourself, and you will
discover what you are seeking.
It’s volunteer work with the sick, the hungry
and the helpless. Reading with the young or the elderly, or saving animals and sand dunes, or raising awareness and money to fight scary diseases. Community service has many definitions
At the Priory, it doesn’t wear a gloomy face. This year, it started with brightly colored balloons, radiant sunshine, clever “everybody-wins” games and prizes, and about a dozen information booths staffed by people from local service agencies. The Campus Ministry Club arranged the school’s first Community Service Fair on Red Square early last fall. Their
goal was to help students make thoughtful choices as they began working through their required 20 hours of community service, said Julia Duncan, club spokesperson.
Like many schools, Woodside Priory has a service requirement for graduation—five hours at a class service day, 10 hours at an off-campus organization of the student’s choice, and an additional five hours that the student can invest with the same organization or, optionally, with a fund-raising or on-campus activity.
Responsibility for finding a satisfying 10 to 15 hour project rests largely with the student. Some students quickly find one, while others struggle. The requirement was knowingly designed that way. The goal is to encourage students to take their own skills and passions, and extend them, said Therese Inkmann, campus ministry coordinator.
A ski-snowboard club project in the making is a perfect example. Junior Olin Montalvo fairly radiates excitement in describing the link he is trying to develop with a Special Olympics program. Priory club members will take handicapped, very young children out on the slopes and help them learn to ski.
—from Always We Begin Again, The Benedictine Way of Living
“Ms. Payne, our advisor, suggested it. The idea is for us to do more as a club than just trips to the snow. I think this is great and I’m trying to get it organized by January,” Olin commented. For him, the service hours aren’t important—it’s the project itself that inspires him, he says.
Scratch the surface and you usually find such confidence comes from previous experience. Olin is comfortable with kids in part because he’s already been an assistant soccer coach. Brian Mansoor, who is working with Olin on the ski club project, has worked in children’s day care.
Senior Ashley Kustu took her considerable experience in figure skating and uses it to advantage with “Special Skaters” at Ice Oasis in Redwood City. Nearly every Saturday afternoon, she spends an hour helping disabled youngsters learn grace, balance and coordination on ice.
Encouraging students to form a lifelong habit of service is part of the Priory’s Benedictine mission. Asking students to develop their own projects seems more likely to foster a lifelong commitment than simply asking them to participate in pre-arranged events—although the five-hour class activity is one of the latter and valuable for other reasons, Ms. Inkmann explained.
Freshman Alicia Kriewall and junior Lauren Frasch already know about long-term commitment. Both have been active for years with the American Cancer Society and have donated countless hours to hands-on work at fund-raising and community awareness projects. Now, both also have positions in the ACS administrative structure. Lauren is chair and Alicia secretary of the ACS Youth Advisory Board in San Mateo County. To fulfill graduation requirements, they need only fill out Ms. Inkmann’s forms.