Middle School Community Service
Required Service
During first semester, all fifth graders participate in service projects every other week on Friday afternoons during regular school hours. All of these activities occur at the Middle School or in the nearby community. Service projects include helping with the recycling program at the Middle School and cleaning the school grounds and the nearby neighborhood. Sixth graders spend their community service afternoons visiting Hearst Elementary School to read to young children, making sandwiches for Martha's Table and visiting the elderly residents at the Washington Home. During second semester, the two grades switch assignments.
All students in the seventh and eighth grades spend three school days off campus performing community service as part of a group. The activities typically involve programs for children with special needs, the elderly, or homeless persons; they may also provide support organizations involved in AIDS/HIV and environmental concerns. Some of the agencies we have worked with in recent years include Ivymount School, the Washington Home and Hospice, Zacchaeus Kitchen, and the Food Bank. In addition, once a year, students and teachers go on an after school Quaker workcamp. These groups work on McKenna's Wagon, which is a mobile soup kitchen that drives around the city and serves dinner to homeless people. Following a period of reflection, students return to the school in the early evening.
The Middle School has a four day Minimester during the week before Spring Break. Students may select an assignment from a wide range of options (i.e. the yearbook, sports, arts, drama, etc.). Several of these activities involve community service, and all students who begin Middle School in 5th or 6th grade must spend one of their four Minimesters doing a service project. The service offerings range from work in local feeding programs for homeless people, to a community service project outside of the Washington DC metropolitan area.
Extracurricular Service
Middle School students may also participate in school-wide service activities throughout the year. Some of these activities are coordinated by STAC, the MS student government organization; other activities are organized by the Parents Association, individual homerooms or teams, or by student or family groups. These school-wide activities include seasonal events such as Project Harvest Thanksgiving canned-food drive, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, and Martha's Table Holiday Gift Drive. Volunteers with the Samaritan Inns Meals Program cook and serve two meals each month at the Samaritan Inns Transitional Housing Program for formerly homeless people, and Middle School students and families also take part in Saturday volunteer work at Martha's Table. Sidwell students and families also participate in activities such as the annual FannieMae Walk to Help the Homeless and the Million Mom March.
