Community Service at Sidwell Friends School opens the hearts and minds of our students to the reality of other members of their community.
This program often allows our students to become acquainted with disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our society -- people that most of them do not usually associate with in their daily lives. In this way, our students will be able to understand and relate to the challenges and hopes of these people on a deeper, more personal level. As a result, it is our hope that they will develop empathy and compassion for these individuals, which will inform the personal and professional decisions that they make throughout their lives.
Our program is designed to meet a wide range of pressing needs in our community. From our partnership with the Brightwood Elementary School in the Lower School, to our 60 hour individual service projects for students in the Upper School, Sidwell Friends School reaches out to create strong individual and institutional relationships, which in turn strengthen our community.
Through a strong reflection component, the program also teaches a basic understanding of issues of social justice, and challenges stereotypes and prejudices existing within our students. In this way, we hope to educate our students in the manner of the Religious Society of Friends, to help them to find that of God in everyone.
Click here to read past issues of the Upper School Community Service Newsletter