Community Service

At Scattergood Friends School, community service is an integral part of the academic and social program. Besides providing students with an opportunity to give to those in need in the broader community, it also gives students important perspective on the different organizations in the community and helps them to learn new skills. Each student is required to log 30 hours of community service each year. These hours can be spent in a variety of settings. Students have helped out in elementary schools, soup kitchens, senior-citizen centers and through organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and United Action for Youth.

7th Block Trips

A more prolonged off-campus chance for community service occurs for juniors and seniors during their 7th Block month-long trips. These trips traditionally alternate each year between Latin America and some eastern seaboard states in the U.S. During the Latin American trips, students stay with local families. This experience presents a chance to improve their Spanish skills and to make important inter-cultural connections. The student group as a whole also participates in a variety of community service activities. Recent projects include helping to build a new medical center, building playground equipment, and clearing trails.
Just as the Latin America Trip builds on studies of the Spanish language, the East Coast Trip highlights the themes of US History and Government. During visits to several cities (i.e. Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and New York), students take in cultural events, lend their energy to various local community service projects, and view political movements from the inside.

Service Days

Each February during Intersession, the entire community devotes a day to service work. Students and staff disperse over the West Branch and Iowa City area to volunteer at various organizations including the animal shelter, Ronald McDonald House, the food bank, Salvation Army, a homeless shelter, Planned Parenthood, day care centers, and nursing homes. Although we are all engaged in different activities, our common focus is to add our efforts to projects that nurture the local community.
The international students spend another day each spring giving programs in the West Branch Elementary Schools. As part of a Diversity Day, our students visit individual classes to give presentations about their home country, culture and language.
Students have many other opportunities for community service throughout the school year. Staff members have typically organized volunteer work during the evenings or weekends assisting at a daycare center, helping at an animal shelter, doing highway cleanup and entertaining residents at a nursing home. Many students also elect to pursue community service activities while they are home over the summer.

Requirements for Graduation

Students at Scattergood are expected to complete a minimum of 30 hours of community service each year they are in attendance. This requirement stems from the conviction that education needs to sensitize students to their place within the wider community and to the ways in which we are all part of inter-dependent systems. Scattergood requires that the community service work be under the auspices of a non-profit organization, of a voluntary nature, and for altruistic purposes.
A "Senior Service Project" must be completed some time during the Junior or Senior year. This project involves a minimum of 30 hours of work at one site or for one organization. The intention is that each student has the experience of working on a project over some length of time in order to gain a deeper understanding of the work. This community service requirement can be met through a trip during 7th block, such as the Latin America or East Coast Trip, during which a larger community service project is undertaken. Other trips during 7th block or Spring Trips Week may also have a community service component that would meet this requirement.
It is possible for this requirement to be filled by a community service project that is completed during a break or over the summer. In order to do this, a student must receive prior approval from the Academic Office. At the completion of the project, the organization at which the student worked must send a letter verifying the volunteer hours to the Scattergood Registrar.

The yearly Community Service requirement can be fulfilled through a variety of volunteer activities, such as:

• Farm Work Day at the Scattergood Farm
• Community Service Project (working with children or the elderly in West Branch during Project time)
• Community Service Day during February Intersession
• Volunteering at the Soup Kitchen in Iowa City
• Helping out at the Animal Shelter
• Participating in our Highway Cleanup Day

A "Senior Service Project" must be completed some time during the Junior or Senior year, which involves a minimum of 30 hours of work at one site or for one organization. The intention is that each student has the experience of working on a project over some length of time in order to gain a broader understanding of community service. The "Senior Service Project" must be in addition to or outside of our regular Community Service Project class that takes place for 90 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons during the school year.
This Community Service requirement has often been met in the past through a trip during 7th block, such as the Latin America Trip or the East Coast Trip, during which a larger community service project is undertaken. Other trips during 7th block or Spring Trips Week may also have a community service component that would meet this requirement.
It is possible for this requirement to be filled by a community service project that is completed during a break or over the summer. In order to do this, a student must receive prior approval from the Academic Office, and have the organization where the service was done send a letter verifying this to the Registrar.