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| The girls' water polo team participated in a preseason community service project at the Pottstown Public Library |
Community service is by no means a new practice here at The Hill School. Issues of
The Dial (The Hill's student yearbook) from the 19th century show various service clubs. Through the early 1990s, various faculty independently took students off campus in order to serve the needs of the greater Pottstown area (as faculty members continue to do). In the mid-'90s, many of these small programs were combined into a more coordinated voluntary afternoon program. For the past 10 years, students have been assisting with tutoring endeavors, after-school programs, day care, and visits with the elderly.
As part of our stated objective (
The Hill School Handbook) to enable Hill students to “appreciate the responsibilities they have to themselves, to others, and to society,” the School maintains an active community-service program. During his or her tenure at Hill, a student will have many opportunities to serve others both within the School and within the larger community in which we live and study.
A good example of service to the School community itself is found in our campus work-job program: students in forms three through five are assigned tasks to perform around the campus to help keep our environment clean and our offices running smoothly. Our students are also called upon to serve the larger community. On certain days of the year, an entire form may be asked to engage in a project such as cleaning a park or the nearby stretch of road the School has adopted. Sports teams are invited to participate in team-building exercises that involve them in a useful community activity such as organizing donations at a local food pantry or working with younger students in the sport.
Most formally, students may choose to spend a term in daily afternoon service such as tutoring local students, visiting the elderly, working at the Pottstown library, or helping local residents prepare their income taxes. Students who wish to start service clubs are encouraged to do so and will be supported by the Director of Community Service in their endeavors.
Because service is considered an integral part of the way we live in a decent and caring community, there is no community-service requirement
per se. Instead, we strive to ensure that each and every student has many occasions during his or her time at The Hill to put others first and to help to solve problems besetting the community.
Mrs. Rebecca Longenecker '05 serves as the School's director of community service. For questions about Hill's Community Service program, please contact Mrs. Longenecker at
rlongenecker@thehill.org