Generous Community
Source/Author: Mike Murphy, Headmaster
December 07, 2018
If you have never been in the Crisp Gym on the day when the students and SCA volunteers deliver and organize the gifts for the Holiday Gift Drive, you have missed a moment of beauty. The generosity is palpable and impressive. The photos do not do justice to the generosity and impact the community has when we are ‘all-in.’
More than 23 years ago, when Shorecrest decided to have a Holiday Gift Drive, stakeholders made a commitment to make service a part of our school culture. Ten years ago when the Shorecrest Board, with the encouragement of the Strategic Planning Committee, decided to change our Mission Statement to include service as a core element of our school, we cemented the culture of service.
Eight years ago, when a group of seniors and the Upper School faculty committed to having a Service Week as a part of our curriculum, the Mission-focused program changed the way we think about service. Soon after, the Board approved the position of a Director of Service Learning to strengthen our school-wide commitment to the fourth leg of our Mission. Academics, athletics, arts and service have been our Mission-focused elements.
Four years ago, we added our Five Core Values: Responsibility, Respect, Integrity, Knowledge and Compassion to reinforce that character development is part of our Mission. Service learning and personal community engagement exemplify the best of our core values for our students and for our giving community of parents, alumni, grandparents and special friends.
Like independent schools and colleges around our country, the Shorecrest Annual Fund is the most impactful way to enhance academics, athletics, arts, service,character development, curriculum and programs. Would you be surprised to know that 100% participation is not unusual at many independent schools? Every year we make that our goal. Like the Holiday Gift Drive that has total community participation that emboldens our Mission and Core Values, we need our total community to support the Shorecrest Annual Fund; especially at this time of year.
Which one of our core values guides us on the path of service through giving? Responsibility? Knowledge? Compassion? Perhaps all of them.
But, just as we are willing to support the foster children who benefit from the Holiday Gift Drive, the support of parents/guardians, trustees, faculty, staff, alumni, past parents and grandparents to the Shorecrest Annual Fund ensures our children and their teachers have the resources to provide enrichment that makes our education nationally recognized.
100%. Shorecrest.
To those families who have already supported the Shorecrest Annual Fund for 2018-19, thank you. If you have not, your participation to move us into that elite group of schools who can say they have 100% participation will make a difference and be greatly appreciated. Do it for a child. Do it for a member of the faculty and staff. All-in is not only important, it is in our Mission, in our Values and it shows us who we are.
Cheers!
Mike
