Community Service
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Thank you to all those who joined us for Family Service Day on January 21, 2012—your hard work and dedication to the school and the community at large is truly appreciated!
Click here to view photos from the event.
Family Service Day is an annual event that welcomes Nightingale students, families, and alumnae to gather and work on projects to benefit those in need. Participants can choose from an array of opportunities—both inside and outside the schoolhouse—to lend a helping hand and serve the broader community. A Nightingale parent and Service Day participant recalls her experience with Meals on Heels:
"Our family delivered weekend meals to elderly NYC residents living near the Carter Burden Center for the Aging, and it was a blast. We met five of the nicest people who were so happy to see us and just chat for a few moments. One woman was a World War II nurse on a ship in the Pacific, and another had been a school teacher; all of them opened their doors with a smile. It was an opportunity to meet neighbors we might not otherwise get to know and see how a small act of kindness and a bit of conversation can make someone's day—it certainly made ours. I can assure you that if you do volunteer, you'll come away knowing you've made a connection and an impact on the people in our community. You won't even realize it's January."
Everyone at Nightingale, from the Lower School to the Parents Association, recognizes a responsibility to our larger community; our commitment to community service is integral to educating the minds and hearts of our students. Nightingale looks at community service from both a local and global perspective. By focusing less on raising money and more on raising awareness, our aim is to engage students in causes for which they can do actual service not only during their time at Nightingale but for a lifetime. In the younger grades, girls participate in a variety of community-minded activities such as writing letters to soldiers overseas and serving meals to the elderly. Middle School students take part in joint service projects with nearby boys’ schools. Throughout the Upper School experience, students serve their community both within the school—for example, by tutoring younger students, working in the library, or giving admissions tours—and outside the blue doors as well. Eighth- and ninth-grade civic engagement projects are built into the curriculum and underscore the link between classroom learning and real world issues. The goal of all of these programs is to instill a lifelong commitment to service and civic responsibility.
Click here to visit the blog of Director of Community Service Kristen Mulvoy.
