Community Service

Students of many backgrounds, faiths, and traditions find a hospitable school home at Doane Stuart. Our Judeo-Christian heritage impels us to put our values into practice in service to the wider community. The 5,000 hours of community service given annually by our students is an integral part of a Doane Stuart education, enabling students to make a real contribution to those in need, and broadening their horizons to grasp more fully the complexity of problems in our society. Our diverse student body not only develops a sense of commitment, but makes commitment a part of its everyday experience. We come together, as a whole school, at our weekly meetings to celebrate holidays, listen to stories, and share religious, moral and ethical issues as they relate to everyday life.

Community Service placements include nursing homes, food pantries, Ronald McDonald House, Center for the Disabled and many more. Through our Reading Buddies program, Middle School students are paired with children in the Lower School to discover together the joy of literature.

Upper School Community Service Requirements

25 hours required per year, for 1/4 credit per year.

Doane Stuart’s tradition of community service is one of the foundations of the school, reflecting our commitment to the Sacred Heart goal of “social awareness that impels to action.” In addition to many opportunities for giving, Upper School students are required to perform twenty-five (25) hours of community service each year for 1/4 credit per year.

Finding time for community service can be a challenge for all of us, particularly for students who are trying to balance extracurricular activities with a rigorous academic schedule. As part of our effort to ensure that the community service program remains a central and meaningful part of each student’s experience in the Upper School, we make available to students many service opportunities on-campus and a list of off-campus options. At least five hours of the twenty-five hour requirement must be spent in service off-campus.

Beginning with discussion of summer reading at Orientation, students and faculty engage throughout the year in reading and conversation about the social, religious, personal, political, philosophical, and historical aspects of community service. Students may, if they wish, perform their community service during the summer before a given school year. Community service hours in excess of twenty-five in a given school year cannot be carried over to the following year.

Community service helps our students to understand more about the world around them, and more about themselves and their place in the world. Our hope is that our students will develop a habit of service to others that will become a permanent part of their lives.

Middle School Community Service

The entire Middle School Community spends one Friday a month, totalling about 40 hours per student, per year, participating in community service. This Middle School tradition includes service both on and off the campus. Students are divided into groups and each group will, throughout the course of the school year, have the chance to experience a variety of activities. Some examples of Middle School Community Service placements include:

• Kenwood Convent of the Sacred Heart
• Doane Stuart Lower School Discovery Center
• Teresian House Nursing Home
• Center for the Disabled – Langan School
• Trinity Day Care Center
• Ronald McDonald House
• Campus Grounds Maintenance
• Reading Buddies

Lower School Community Service

Even Doane Stuart’s youngest students share the joy and importance of serving others. The Community Service Program in the Lower School consists mainly of projects within the School, while still reaching out to the community in a variety of ways.

The kindergarten and first grade participate with the retired community of Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart in the Reading Buddies Program. Each Sister reads a story to her “buddy” each month, and then they discuss the story or any other topics they would like.

The Lower School also goes outside throughout the year for a trash pickup on the Doane Stuart campus. Food drives are organized throughout the year to benefit local food pantries. Lower School students contribute to a variety of local charities during the holiday season.