Service Learning

Lower School students engage in several different projects throughout the year, which are chosen based on their accessibility to our younger students. Each project benefits a sector of our greater community with which our students identify.

Some examples include:

• The Wrap-In: a children’s gift drive benefiting the One Simple Wish Foundation, a local organization that enriches the lives of foster children. Students wrap new donated presents in creative and sustainable ways with recycled materials.

• Winter Woolies: a mitten, hat and scarf drive benefiting the Children’s Home Society of NJ, a local organization which “helps at risk infants, youths, and families achieve their potential.”

• 2nd grade student-created calendar sale, with proceeds benefiting an agreed-upon organization

• Annual bulb planting

Middle School students participate in Service Learning in their classrooms as they learn about issues and how to make a difference. Additionally, when students have personal initiatives they would like to launch, they are encouraged to become advocates first. Once they are advocates they are invited to share their findings with their peers. Advocacy is also an essential component of Service Learning. 

A Service Learning Committee with co-heads, grade level representatives, and a faculty advisor are responsible for overseeing US projects. Service Learning projects are developed primarily through student clubs, advisory groups, and by individual students. Students respond to current events and identify programs or organizations which are in need of assistance. They work to raise awareness of a chosen issue and encourage other community members to take action to make a change, in addition to developing a plan for hands-on help, perhaps organizing a drive for essentials or a sale to raise funds as financial support. Periodically, informed speakers are brought to campus to raise awareness about the issues that are being addressed.

Upper School students are required to complete 50 hours of Community Service prior to graduation. These 50 hours may be completed at any time over the course of their four years in the US, and may be completed within the school community, as well as outside of school.

A popular and mutually fulfilling service opportunity exists right within our school walls. Interested Upper School students are matched up with Lower School faculty members who would like students to help in the classroom on a cyclical basis. Teachers rely on tap students, planning lessons which require an extra pair of hands. Our littlest students benefit having older students in the room and look forward to the visits.

The entire Princeton Day School community comes together across divisions on several Service projects, including food drives, clothing drives and blood drives.

A signature event which also spans all three divisions is Empty Bowls. Started in 1990, Empty Bowls is an international initiative to fight hunger that is personalized by organizations on a community level. At Princeton Day School, ceramics students make and donate bowls, and local restaurants provide soup. Guests to the event choose a bowl, and enjoy a simple meal of soup and bread. All of the proceeds raised are donated to address hunger in our local community. In 2021, Empty Bowls was reimagined to follow school safety protocols.