Service Learning

At the Bay School, each member of our community recognizes his and her personal and social responsibility to make a difference. Our service learning program grows directly from the Bay School mission—recognizing that the health of our school community is strengthened by our ability to look outward as well as inward.

Service learning projects at the Bay School are intentionally planned to relate to the academic curriculum and to offer students structured opportunities to learn about, and directly experience, the realities of important contemporary social issues. Throughout community service activities there are numerous opportunities for reflection—the process of thinking, talking and writing about situations that arise while serving—enabling students to process and learn from their experiences.

Ninth graders, along with faculty advisors, take part in activities designed to foster a deeper awareness of the dynamics within their own school community and the surrounding Presidio neighborhood. Tenth graders begin to look beyond their school to identify social issues challenging the broader Bay Area, learning about what is being done to address these problems. This understanding serves as a foundation for critical analysis and activism.

The culmination of the service learning program is a major project undertaken in the junior/senior year. Students design their own individual projects that address a social need that deeply interests and concerns them.