Service Learning
"Sport has the ability to change the world."-Nelson Mandela
Throughout my career I have held the belief that linking learning to service should be the ultimate focus of an education. If we can find the intersection between "students' greatest passions and the world's greatest needs" (Fredrick Buehner) we will have students who will come away from their education prepared to make a difference in this world. St. Mary's International School is a school that priorities Christian values in the lives of our students and encourages them to live a life that contributes to the greater good in this world.
One of the most ambitious service learning projects I help organize and sponsor was a service learning trip to Accra, Ghana with a group of college students who linked their passion for soccer with a focus on conflict resolution with middle school students in Ghana. This project attempted to help young people understand that the ultimate purpose of sport is to learn about life, to help solve conflict between people, and to focus on what we all have in common as opposed to looking at our differences.
I am hoping to instill an attitude of service with students at St. Mary's International Middle School as we move forward throughout this year and as we move into next. Through the second quarter "STAR" program, all students are working on individual, family or class service projects with the hope of igniting some interest in this important aspects of education. Service learning is not about fundraising alone but rather about working side by side with others to learn about their lives, about their struggles, about their stories and to focus on what we have in common as opposed to focusing on our differences.
Thanks for your efforts to continue to build an attitude and habits of service with your sons. We need citizens and leaders who are not focused on individual needs but rather on the needs of our communities, our countries and our world as we look toward the future of the planet.
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