Community Service

Putting values into practice

Community service is an integral component of a Doane Stuart education. Students fulfill a requirement of at least 25 hours each year. Together, our students contribute more than 5,000 hours of service every year, laying the foundation for what we hope will be a lifelong commitment.

Upper School Community Service Requirements

Doane Stuart’s tradition of community service is one of the foundations of the school, reflecting our commitment to an awareness of others’ needs that inspire us to take action. In addition to many opportunities for giving, Upper School students are required to perform twenty-five (25) hours of community service each year. Hours should be submitted via the Community Service Form.

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 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, totaling 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:

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