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SOS Board Mission Statement |
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The Student Outreach Services (SOS) program's goal is to help students to develop leadership skills, individual responsibility and commitment, social awareness, citizenship and personal growth by providing opportunities for service in our extended community.
Service is an integral part of The Agnes Irwin School. It provides an opportunity for upper school students to reach beyond themselves and their immediate environment to a larger world — a world about which many students are sincerely concerned and in which they really want to "make a difference." The emphasis of the program is on "hands-on" projects when possible with a minimal amount of fundraising. Activities such as tutoring children at an urban school, volunteering in a nursing home, or learning American Sign Language are just some examples of student involvement.
A graduation requirement for Upper School students of 40 hours of service does exist, although most students volunteer many more hours than the required 40 (hours performed outside of school and during the summer are also accepted). In spite of, or perhaps because of, extremely busy schedules, it is absolutely amazing the amount of time students put in to service. Their enthusiasm and commitment is impressive. Many students graduate with hundreds of hours of service to their credit.
Service Learning projects begin in the Lower School with Meals on Wheels, holiday crafts for hospitals and nursing homes, and book, food and toiletry collections. In Middle School, a Holiday Bazaar each December raises funds for Family Support Services of Philadelphia. Students in grades 5-8 participate in after-school craft classes in preparation for the bazaar. In addition, each grade oversees one aspect of the event: in fifth grade, students hold a bake sale. Sixth graders host games and make ice cream sundaes; seventh graders stock a "white elephant" booth and sell these items; in the eighth grade, the girls make and raffle off gingerbread houses and villages. Other service projects include the Read for Ronald program, which raises funds for the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, and our Adopt-a-Grandparent program, through which students make weekly visits to a nearby nursing home.
Listed below are some of the opportunities students have to become involved in Upper School Student Outreach Services. |
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