“Great opportunities to help others seldom
come, but small ones surround us every day.”
-- Sally Koch
At this time of
year, when there is a flurry of service projects at USM, all the opportunities
– both great and small that surround us
here – help students learn and appreciate the value of contributing to society.
Student
involvement in community service projects begins in prekindergarten and
culminates with a 60-hour community service graduation requirement over the
course of four years in Upper School. These experiences foster learning,
personal growth and connections, and offer children opportunities to develop
leadership skills.
A variety of USM projects – within the school community, around the greater Milwaukee area, and even internationally – allows students to acquire a rewarding sense of worth and inspires their investment in making a difference.
Among the many projects:
A variety of USM projects – within the school community, around the greater Milwaukee area, and even internationally – allows students to acquire a rewarding sense of worth and inspires their investment in making a difference.
Among the many projects:
- The STAR Service Club Fashion Show benefiting Sojourner Family Peace Center is being held on Saturday, April 28.
- Also for Sojourner Family Peace Center clients, our sixth-graders design and fill welcoming bags, containing health and beauty items.
- Earlier this week, the Lower School collected supplies for the Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, an organization dedicated to the medical care, rehabilitation, and conservation of Wisconsin’s wild creatures, and to educating the public regarding the importance of sharing the earth with these creatures.
- This week our JKers are finishing up their annual collection of cans for recycling. For almost 30 years, our JK classes have been collecting aluminum cans. As part of this project, the children visit Miller Compressing Company for a tour to see the cans crushed and weighed, and receive a check for their value. All this aluminum gets turned back into new cans and students have money to buy books for needy children and sponsor animals at the zoo that they visit in May.
- Second-graders are conducting their annual food drive for the Hunger Task Force until May 8 and are encouraging the USM community to bring in as much non-perishable food as possible.
- Coming up shortly is the fifth-grade service-learning trip to clean up the Milwaukee River. In the past seven years, fifth-grade students have recovered over a ton of refuse from Brown Deer and Lincoln Parks.
Certainly, this list is not comprehensive and you may well know of other projects where you have helped your child bring food or cans to school or where you have helped them participate in both tangible and intangible ways. Community service is just one more example of the partnership between home and school where we can work together to help students find their place in today’s rapidly changing society.
