Campus Life

Community Service

Service is considered an integral part of the way we live in a decent and caring community, and involvement in service is one the School's highest priorities. Students are encouraged to participate in service activities throughout their time at The Hill, and the School supports students who wish to pursue their own service interests if they feel that there is a need that's not being met. The Hill School strives to ensure that each and every student has many occasions during their time here to put others first and to help to solve problems faced by the community, and we welcome suggestions for new ways the School can get involved.

Students may choose to spend up to two terms each year in daily afternoon service activities.  If a student has a specific interest, we’ll do our best to accommodate that. Students will participate in three or four days of service each week and are also required to complete two one-hour fitness workouts each week. This program is available all three terms. Students benefit from the strong relationships the School has nurtured with many outstanding organizations in Pottstown and the surrounding region.

More recently, Hobart’s Run – Hill’s distinctive neighborhood improvement initiative – oversees Hill’s Community Service program. Students are engaged with Pottstown’s revitalization in a variety of ways, from helping to beautify the historic Edgewood Cemetery located near campus, volunteering at the Ricketts Community Center, participating in the Pottstown Area Social Innovations Lab run by Hobart’s Run, as well as assisting with other service projects benefitting local nonprofits.

Part of being a student at Hill is acknowledging that our campus is a community itself, and so, for all students, service begins "at home." As part of the Campus Service program, students may set the tables for meals in the Dining Room, assist with office tasks, help prepare science labs, and more. Students also serve the campus community in a number of other ways, including taking the lead in overseeing the dorms as prefects, planning student activities as members of the Student Life Association, and promoting the student-written Honor Code as members of the Honor Council.

Hill School Community Service Opportunities

  • The Ricketts Center: Participants work with the after-school program, providing children with homework help and mentoring youths in the gym and game room, as well as helping Ricketts staff prepare for holiday parties and other special events.
  • Operation 143: Hill students assist this organization, founded by a Hill parent, that provides take-home weekend meals for underserved children from area schools.
  • The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities:  Students help stock the food pantry shelves and organize other donations.
  • TriCounty Area Active Adult Center and Keystone Villa Independent Living/Personal Care:  Students interviewed U.S. Veterans living at Keystone Villa and wrote biographies for a facility display; they help the Adult Center set up for social events; they interact with residents while leading games; they help Villa residents improve their smartphone and device skills; and they decorate for the holidays.
  • Once Upon a Time Consignment Boutique: Students learn social media and merchandising skills while helping the entrepreneurial owner of this small downtown Pottstown business.
  • Hobart’s Run:  Students support Hill’s neighborhood improvement initiative by helping to distribute event flyers, preparing supplies for upcoming cleanups, and other tasks.
  • Centro Cultural Latinos Unidos: Hill students have tutored children from bilingual families during this after-school program.

Supporting Operation 143

Additional projects:

• Setting up used book sales at the Pottstown Public Library.
 
• Assisting with grounds care at Edgewood Historic Cemetery.
 
• Participating in Pottstown block cleanups.
 
• Supporting Hill’s campus “Go Green and Go Home” reduce/reuse/recycle effort led by Pottstown CARES.
 
• Offering tech-savvy guidance to small Pottstown business owners who reach out for assistance.
 
• Engaging in supply donation drives for organizations such as Beacon of Hope (a shelter for the homeless), Laurel House (which serves domestic violence survivors), and local food banks.

Pottstown CARES

Pottstown CARES provides another opportunity for volunteer service through a variety of projects completed in collaboration with students from the Pottstown School District. CARES stands for Community, Awareness, Responsibility, Empowerment, and Sustainability.  Projects range from fundraisers for local homeless assistance agencies and serving in a Pottstown soup kitchen, to building literacy support awareness through representation in the Pottstown Halloween Parade.