Service Learning

Service Learning and Community Purpose
Hewitt’s lower school service learning program brings the school and community together in partnership to share resources, meet real community needs, and educate our young girls to become the change agents of tomorrow. For example, after third graders learned about the Lenape and explored the importance of respecting the environment, they volunteered to help clean up Central Park.

The service learning experience promotes reciprocal benefits for all participants and a renewed sense of community connection while upholding the principles embodied in Hewitt’s mission statement. As another example, lower school students made Valentine’s Day cards for the residents at a local nursing home and kindergarteners delivered the cards to the residents while singing Valentine’s Day songs. After reflecting on this experience, the kindergarteners verbalized the importance and significance of connecting with the local community.

Service Learning and Community Purpose
In middle school, we incorporate service learning into both the advisory program and the academic program. Students experience a personal sense of purpose and think about what it means to be of service to a community through activities such as Family Service Day, Central Park Clean-up, and service trips. Each grade participates in projects that connect to the curriculum so that students learn that service opportunities arise in all areas of study.

For example, in grade 6, girls extend their learning about ecology to hands-on activities that teach environmental stewardship, such as tree planting in the New York watershed. In grade 8, as part of leadership learning, girls participate in activities with older adults at the Carter Burden Center for the Aging. Girls also learn to be of service in the Hewitt student community through our cross-divisional buddies program.