In Service We Trust
Source/Author: Adrianne Finley Odell, Assistant Head of School
March 17, 2017
It has been a big week for Shorecrest Upper School students - Service Week. First envisioned and created by Shorecrest students nine years ago, the program has grown and evolved to become a national model.
The Southern Association of Independent Schools recently acknowledged Shorecrest's approach to service with a grant to support the creation and launch of the Center for Service Learning Leadership to train other educators from around the world on our model.
Service Week is a unique program whereby the entire 9th-12th grade Upper School spends 4-10 days engaged in immersive experiences of service, whether here in our local community or more broadly in places such as New Orleans and Haiti. It is an extension of Shorecrest’s ongoing school-wide philosophy to encourage students to understand and empathize with a diverse range of people from our local communities and around the world.
This year both the service trips to New Orleans and Haiti were planned and organized by Shorecrest students—an approach that will serve as a model for future Service Weeks as the school moves toward a more student-driven approach in the years ahead. This aligns with our philosophy that we believe in learning from students as well as our non-profit partners in developing service learning opportunities that benefit both the service recipient as well as the service learner.
Why do we do believe so strongly in service? A recent talk given by this year’s recipient of our Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award, Mary Greene ‘83, to Upper School students brought to light several reasons that relate to studies about the link between altruism and happiness and the satisfaction one gets from the sense that one is making a difference in the world.
Yet, it was her specific reference to her experience as a Shorecrest student back in the 1980s that is still relevant today and speaks volumes about why we believe so strongly in service:
“More often through action than words, Shorecrest helped me understand, and internalize, that every human being has value; that the journey can be even more important—and enlightening—than the goal; that the pursuit of ambition is laudable but can turn hollow and barren in the absence of integrity, compassion, and respect; and that knowledge is the path to greater self-understanding and universal human rights. Shorecrest gave me the confidence and clarity to seek—to insist—on a meaningful path and I’m confident it is helping to instill those same values in you.”
The realization that the core values that Shorerest recently adopted (respect, responsibility, integrity, knowledge, compassion) are as true today as they were in the 1980s is comforting. Service provides a demonstrable way for students to embrace their appreciation for these core values.
