Page 8 - Priorities #25 2004-January
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Kids Can Free the Children members held a cocoa-with-marshmallows fund-raiser during the cold weeks of December. Members are part of an international organization that aims to protect children from exploitation.
Freshman and seniors (shown here) worked at Half Moon Bay dunes restoration for their five-hour class projects. Juniors helped with sorting, cleaning and food preparation at three homeless shelters. Sophomores hosted a Special Olympics (at right) on the Priory campus for the second year in a row. An all-Middle School service project is being planned for spring. Campus Ministry Coordinator Therese Inkmann (inset photo) ties each class service day to a Benedictine theme.
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The two have done six or seven projects together since Alex started high school, and many more before that, “but we didn’t think of it as community service then, and we didn’t count hours,” Ritu said. “It was just our way of trying to help out in any small way we could,” she explained.
Ritu now looks forward to volunteering with her younger son Christopher, a freshman.
The graduation requirement was revised and the number of required hours reduced two years ago. In the first year, many students weren’t sure of what to do. They waited until late in the spring to get going, and the results were often less than satisfying. This year, the feedback is already more positive, largely because students learned from last year and are doing a better job of linking up community service with other parts of their lives and selves, Ms. Inkman said. The result will be richer and more meaningful experiences, she believes. Her goal for the future is to offer students yet another intersection, this time
in academics—probably involving government and theology classes, she said.


































































































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