service

I am going on retreat with my juniors tomorrow and Tuesday. Well, half tomorrow, half Tuesday because when these retreats were scheduled back before I was on board, they decided that this junior class needed to be separated. But what started as a negative (and remains a negative in their mind--Why are we split up? How could you do this to us?) is actually a positive to me. I don't know much about this class. I've had little time to get to know them over the last 8 months. And yet come September? They will all be mine. So, to me, this is an opportunity for me to start to get to know them--and for them to know me.

The theme of the retreat is service. My school has a unique service program for seniors in which every senior must complete over 100 hours of service in her senior year. They get a day "off" from school to complete these hours. They serve in daycare centers, hospitals, elementary schools, nursing homes, and soup kitchens all over the city. It's an amazing program and the chance to run and coordinate it made this my dream job.

We currently have no formal service program/requirement for 9th-11th grades. Some of the girls are active in the community, others have done a service day here and there, and still others have little to no experience with service. So, going from 0 to 150 or even 40 to 150 is a lot. It's a big commitment. So the goal of tomorrow is to get the girls to think about their own individual strengths and talents, and where those gifts can be best put to use during their service year. They commit their entire year to one site.

I want to know what they think about service--why we as a school think it's important, why THEY think it's important (do they think it's important?) and why I think it's important. I hope to share some of my own experiences with service, about how service is about more than giving; it's about receiving. It's about letting the experience change and transform you, listening to the people you serve, being with them, laughing with them. I've been lucky enough to serve as a tutor, as a house-builder, as an advocate, as a teacher, as a mentor. It's not always easy and it's not always comfortable. Sometimes you're tired, or frustrated, or in a bad mood...and you still have to go. Sometimes you feel useless--and yet you keep trying.

There are so many things I want to tell them--I could fill almost the whole 4 hours with my own voice. But I won't. I want to hear from them too. I want them to discover their own gifts and strengths (which is why they will take a Myers-Briggs test and discover their personality), and to take ownership of the service program (which is why they will work on writing a mission statement for our program).

As I said above, this service program (with all of its headaches and complexities--of which there are MANY) is my favorite part of the job. Hopefully, I can convey that tomorrow, and get the girls as excited and engaged as I am...