Once a young woman enters Sacred Heart’s doors, she is encouraged to become an agent of constructive change. Students are taught that "to whom much is given, much is expected."
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For example, students raise money for causes by participating in walk-a-thons, selling crafts and baked goods and holding various other fund-raising drives. They also raise awareness of important social issues through assemblies, presentations and guest speakers. Most importantly, students of 91st Street are instructed at all age levels of the Goals and Criteria, particularly Goal III in reference to community service. It states, "Schools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to a social awareness which impels to action."
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In the Lower School, students learn social responsibility through age-appropriate service experiences, such as preparing food baskets during the holidays, entertaining and assisting residents at nursing homes and participating in the city-wide annual Penny Harvest. In the Middle School, an elected student service team plans activities and conducts outreach efforts to help their peers learn about local, national and global needs. Activities in the Middle School include organizing clothing and food drives and participating in Santa for the Elderly. In the Upper School, community service is a requirement and a way of life. Students volunteer in day-care centers, community centers and social services agencies, assist in soup kitchens and work with the homeless, among other activities. They also form a variety of service clubs including their own Habitat for Humanity chapter, the Helping Hearts foundation committee, Amnesty International, Environmental club, the Community Service Outreach team, and the cammpus ministry team. Additionally, the Upper School has, for the last five years, held an annual Teach-In, where classes are canceled for one day and experts are brought in from a variety of outside agencies to speak to the students and faculty and lead workshops on a particular theme or issue. One recent Teach-In focused on the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, featuring guest speakers from Georgetown's School of Government, Bread for the World and Global Goods Partners, all interspersed with student-led discussion sessions.
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All three divisions have develoiped special relationships with a handful of specific agencies, most notably Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Services, Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center, Mary Manning Walsh Senior Center, West End Intergenerational Residence, Mercy Center and the Sacred Heart school in Uganda, Africa. Additionally, students in the Upper School Habitat for Humanity chapter have, for the past four spring breaks, spent one week of home-building service in Appalachia. In 2009, the upper school will offer a second spring break trip to New Orleans to address the challenges people still face from Hurricane Katrina.
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For the past 15 years, 91st street students have also participated in the Network of Sacred Heart Schools summer community service immersions. Students are asked to step outside their “comfort zone” and learn to interact with students from varied locations, socio-economic situations, and ethnic backgrounds, while simultaneously learn to reach out to the marginalized members of society that they are serving in their projects. Participants return with a deeper understanding of themselves and the challenges our society faces.
The School's Service Team also works with the Parents Association to enable parents to participate in a variety of all-school and divisional community service projects.