Community Service
In the belief that service to others is an essential component of the personal development and growth of our students, Park Tudor encourages and supports participation in a wide variety of community service activities.
Community service is an important component of one of our school’s guiding principles: teaching high standards of behavior, responsibility, ethics and citizenship. Community service also encourages students to be aware of the needs of others, helping them to develop compassion and understanding.
At Park Tudor, the community service program is designed to encourage group and individual participation in a manner appropriate to the developmental level and age of the student.
Hilbert Early Education Center
Community service activities in the Hilbert Early Education Center (preschool, junior and senior kindergarten) are in most cases integrated into the curriculum and jointly planned by teachers and their young students. Developmentally, a young child’s community encompasses a much smaller scope than that of older children. The young child is just beginning to understand that he or she is part of a larger group. This awareness begins first at the family level and later at the school and neighborhood levels. As a result, young children, their parents and their teachers should look for opportunities for children to serve their families, their schools and their neighbors.
Lower School
As children age and develop an awareness of others, as well as caring, concern and compassion, the community service program moves in scope from the ego-centered nature of the six year old to the more global understanding of the 12 year old. The Lower School (grades 1-5) program provides age-appropriate experiences that move along a child’s development path, from an initial emphasis on family needs to a later emphasis on the needs of a larger community.
The Lower School community service program parallels the development parameters of the school’s social studies curriculum, moving with age from the home and school environment to the community, and later to the world. Projects begin in the classroom as students serve as helpers and note writers to ill classmates. Students then serve the school community as book buddies, lunch helpers, mail carriers, and through various other assistance projects. The Lower School Student Council is actively involved in community service through donations, clothing and school supply collections, and similar efforts. In keeping with projects that parallel children’s developmental stages, the Student Council projects are student driven, voluntary, and concrete.
Students interact with those in the neighborhood by visiting nursing homes to sing to residents, making cookies with students at the Indiana School for the Blind, and participating in recycling programs. Teachers and parents arrange many of these neighborhood-based projects.
Middle School
The Middle School’s community service program (grades 6-8) focuses on learning through service to others, building an awareness of the needs and plights of others, and giving back to the school and community. The formal program, coordinated by grade level, provides service opportunities for all students and logistical support for their efforts. Community service supports the Middle School mission of building in each student independent thinking and self-confidence, challenging them to explore and develop their potential through a variety of activities and opportunities and instilling strong character.
Examples of community service activities appropriate for students in the pre-teen and early teenage years include providing service within the school and community through donations of time and labor, raising funds or materials to support a project, and assuming a responsibility to serve others. Activities include group projects in which all students are involved, as well as those requiring smaller group or individual support. The school provides opportunities and logistical support for these efforts.
Sixth, seventh and eighth graders are involved in various community projects as members of the Kiwanis Builders Club. Examples of projects include conducting food and supply drives for the needy, organizing fundraisers to support community projects, caroling at senior citizen homes, and reading to young children as part of the Reading is Fundamental program. In addition, sixth graders participate in Safe Sitter, a program that teaches them the skills necessary for child care as well as how to handle emergencies in the home.
Upper School
In the Upper School (grades 9-12), a formal service program is implemented through the office of the Coordinator of Counseling. In most cases the community service program is voluntary; we feel that students need to do more than merely fulfill a requirement. Service to humankind is an opportunity for students to learn to give of themselves, committing their personal time, talents and abilities without expectation of credit or remuneration.
Community service is encouraged through both individual projects in which students have a personal passion, as well as through group efforts that result in a shared sense of community. Juniors and seniors participating in the Global Scholars program are required to perform at least 200 hours of community service work. Clubs and organizations including Student Council, the Service Club and the Varsity Club organize a variety of community service projects each year.
Students participate in a wide variety of activities, from volunteering at a shelter for the homeless, to tutoring Hispanic students at a local elementary school, to raising funds and supplies for community and worldwide charities, to sponsoring and building a Habitat for Humanity home.
Schoolwide Community Service
The Park Tudor Mothers’ Association “Volunteers Committee” supports community service activities by publishing a resource book listing various community volunteer opportunities. The booklet lists dozens of opportunities at local agencies and organizations that assist adults and children, as well as support the environment, history, the arts, and more. The booklet lists the suggested age of volunteers and student contacts at Park Tudor.
