Community Service Overview
Holton has a long tradition of service both within the School and the community at large. Giving back to the community is a concept and a responsibility girls learn at all stages of their time at Holton.
Lower School
Community service is a very important component of the Lower School experience. No matter what the age of the students we feel it's important for them to know that they have gifts and talents that can be shared with those less fortunate.
Children view their world in a series of concentric circles. At the first level, they intimately understand the “world” of family and friends. The next level is their class at school, and that expands to include the Lower School and then the entire school. The levels beyond that are their neighborhoods, their city, their state, their country, and of course, the world.
Lower School Community Service involves these different circles, as girls help within the Holton community, and within the larger community. Projects in the Lower School include: visiting a nursing home where the 6th grade chorus performs songs from their spring concert repertoire, and the girls visit with the residents; bake sales and a talent show to raise money for local causes; a walk for the homeless; JumpRope for Heart to raise money for the American Heart Association; delivering handmade sandwiches, soups, scarves and hats to local shelter; and adopting families during the holidays.
We are proud of the positive impact the Lower School girls are having on our own community and the community at large. The girls are developing a true love of caring for others and a sense of satisfaction at how their efforts are received.
Middle School
The Middle School community service program affords students an opportunity to become connected to the world around them, to recognize that they have a responsibility to contribute to a cause greater than their own. In addition to the service duties (hall clean-up, lost & found, etc.) that all students fulfill within school, the program extends outside the Holton environment in the following ways:
- All students and faculty participate in two service days each year. In small groups, students visit one of over a dozen local sites (e.g., food banks, senior centers, hospitals, parks, pre-schools), where they engage in hands-on, meaningful work
- The Middle School forges year-long relations with three organizations: Martha’s Table, the National Rehabilitation Hospital, and the Earth Conservation Corps. Monthly visits (usually on the weekend) are arranged to each of these sites, and students are encouraged to join in these excursions
- The Middle School collaborates with Landon on various service projects. The Student Councils from each school meet at the start of the year to determine meaningful causes and appropriate activities
- 8th Graders have the opportunity to spend a portion of their Spring Break on a service trip. The group traveled to New Orleans in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to assist in the post-Katrina rebuilding effort
Upper School
Holton-Arms has a long tradition of service both within the School and to the community at large. The School's commitment to community service is emphasized by its community service graduation requirement (see below). The goals of the requirement are to increase each student’s awareness of community needs and to provide her with an opportunity for service that carries with it the possibility of enhancing her sensitivity to others and her own sense of effectiveness.
The school year is filled with service projects embedded within the school day and also organized at various locations in the Metropolitan DC area on weekends. While the Community Service Club focuses on providing opportunities and activities to all grade levels, each club within the Upper School also takes on a community service project that is tied to their theme.
Upper School Community Service Requirement:
50 hours of community service are required for graduation. The following criteria must be met:
- Students must complete at least 30 hours of volunteer service project at one location (“the 30 Hour Project”), under the supervision of an individual, agency, or organization whose goal is to serve people in the community.
- The additional requirement of 20 hours may be completed in multiple settings (use one-time-only placement form), or at the original 30 hour location.
- The 30 Hour Project must involve personal contact with patrons or clients of the organization or with one or more persons that are disadvantaged, handicapped, underprivileged, or with special needs. This may include work with senior citizens, animals, and environmental work in settings that serve the community.
- You must submit a project proposal for approval before beginning your 30 Hour Project. Projects completed without prior approval cannot count toward the graduation requirement.
- Projects may be initiated as early as the summer before the freshman year or as late as June of the junior year; however, all proposals must be submitted prior to the end of the junior year.
- The proposal deadline is the first Friday in May for projects to be completed during the summer.
- All community service must be completed and documented by the beginning of any school activities preceding senior year (i.e. preseason).
Procedure
- Choose a project or area of community service that interests you and conforms to the criteria outlined above.
- See the Community Service Coordinator to discuss your idea.
- Complete the first section of the proposal form and sign it.
- Obtain all required signatures on your proposal form.
- Give the completed form to the Community Service Coordinator for final approval.
- Work on your service project. Near the end of the project, complete your portion of the evaluation form.
- Ask your supervisor at the agency to fill out his/her portion of the evaluation form and sign it. Make a copy of all completed forms for your records.
- Return the completed evaluation form to the Community Service Coordinator. Please note that your completed evaluation form must be returned within two weeks of the completion of your project.
- Projects completed during the summer months must be turned in by the second week of September, unless you are a senior, in which case it is due prior to the beginning of any school activity senior year. If you mail your evaluation to the School, please write "Attention: Community Service Coordinator" on the envelope.
Community Service Forms (PDFs)
