Service Learning

P-8 SERVICE PROGRAM

Sacred Heart’s Preschool - Grade 8 Service Program combines opportunities for service learning and community outreach, supporting continual growth of both the minds and hearts of our students. Each service activity combines learning, action and reflection. The program helps students cultivate compassion, generosity, and respect for their community members as well as broaden their awareness and responsibility for the world in which they live.

The P-8 Service Program is a combination of all school collections, family outreach opportunities and grade level community partnerships. Each grade level explores curricular ties and leadership development, connected with an outreach activity. Students build relationships and support community programs through coordinated opportunities for direct service, indirect service, and advocacy.

P-8 Programs

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All Grade Drives & Collections

Thanksgiving Holiday Meals Collection
Supporting St. Anthony's, St. Francis, and community families
Christmas Toy, Clothing, and Necessities Drive
Supporting St. Francis Center, SOS, and Street LifeMoves Ministries, and Haven House
Uganda Lenten Collection
Supporting our sister schools in Kenya and Uganda
World Event/Natural Disaster Relief
Immediate response to a local or global crisis situation
Family Service Opportunities

Coastal Beach Cleanup Day
International effort in preserving and beautifying beachfront
REF Classroom Partners
Spend time with teachers and students in neighboring schools
Meals on Wheels
Deliver meals, make cards, or gift bags for seniors
SOS - Sandwiches/Soup on Sunday
Prepare and serve lunch for community members that need a meal every 3rd Sunday
Sunday Breakfast @ First Steps Shelter
Prepare and share a meal with families in San Mateo LifeMoves Shelter
Veterans Outreach
Make cards and treats for Veterans in the hospital
Grade Service in Action

Pre/K Acts of Kindness
GRADE 1 Campus Compassion
GRADE 2 Community
GRADE 3 Local Government
GRADE 4 Environment
GRADE 5 Abilities & Veterans
GRADE 6 Community & Creation
GRADE 7 Homelessness
GRADE 8 Leadership, Community, Independent Service Outreach

SHP (9-12) Program & Graduation Requirement

At the high school level, analysis of the root causes of suffering and injustice is coupled with individual activity and contribution. Through service performed on campus, for local organizations, and service-immersion programs, students apply their passions to enact meaningful, positive change. Proximity and solidarity with people who are poor or marginalized is emphasized in annual service projects. The goal is to bring students from performing acts of charity, to actively seeking justice. Additionally, some disciplines, electives, and upper-division courses require experiential service activities as part of the standard curriculum. Senior independent studies in community service or social justice also help bring students to a higher level of engagement with social justice.

Students must complete the entire SHP Service Learning Sequence to meet graduation requirements. Those who do not meet the annual service learning requirement may not be allowed to begin their next year of classes until project completion. Seniors may not participate in graduation ceremonies or receive a transcript until Capstone Project completion. Transfer students must complete the service learning graduation requirements beginning with their year of entry.

Service Learning Sequence

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GR 9 - Encounter Retreat

The Frosh Encounter Retreat on SHP’s campus is a combination of service day and retreat. This is an opportunity for the entire 9th grade class to engage with their new campus and the history of the RSCJ, as well as reflect on the connection between God, themselves, and others. Environmental service work is performed on SHP’s sustainable farm and garden, as students work alongside and learn from their classmates and faculty.

Enduring Understandings: The connections between God, self, and others, a knowledge of and comfort with Goal III, the importance of service to a Sacred Heart education, an understanding of respect using the image of the iceberg to help students look twice to see what is beneath the surface of both their peers and those they serve, personal and civic responsibility.
GR 10 - Sophomore Service Project
After completing their Frosh Encounter Retreat, students choose from a list of SHP’s 10 close community partner organizations for 25 hours of direct service. Journals and their final reflection are essential components of the experience. Students may also petition for alternate organizations, provided students are in proximity to traditionally marginalized communities and engaged in direct service.
Community Partner options:
1. Siena Youth Center / St. Francis Center of Redwood City (youth/mentorship)
2. St. Elizabeth Seton School (educational equity)
3. Catholic Charities at St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club (youth/mentorship)
4. Boys & Girls Club (youth/mentorship)
5. St. Anthony’s Dining Hall (hunger/poverty)
6. Peninsula Bridge Program (educational equity)
7. St. Vincent de Paul Society (poverty/social justice)
8. LifeMoves (family services/homelessness)
9. Swim Buddies (special needs - summer)
10. Grassroots Ecology (environmental justice)
Enduring Understandings: a deeper encounter with Goal III, specifically criterion 3: the school is linked in a reciprocal manner with ministries among people who are poor, marginalized, and suffering from injustice, an ability to ask critical questions and investigate issues and reasons that necessitate the volunteerism, recognizing and participating in efforts to make real the Kingdom of God as demonstrated in the ministry and teaching of Jesus; increased capacities of compassion and empathy for the suffering of others.
GR 11 - Social Ethics Urban Plunge

All students will enroll in Social Ethics and participate in one Urban Plunge as part of their junior-level Religious Studies curriculum. An example of service-infused, experiential curricula, this all-day (8am-8pm) Urban Plunge will challenge students to get outside of their comfort zone by safely traveling to an impoverished urban area of San Francisco, San Jose, or Oakland. Students will identify, through direct experience, issues of poverty, gentrification, and inclusion within a local urban environment to deepen their discussions in the classroom.

Enduring Understandings: a direct experience of urban poverty, gentrification, and the effects of skyrocketing rents on the most vulnerable in our community, an ability to engage respectfully in difficult conversations with people from all walks of life, continued efforts to make real the Kingdom of God as demonstrated in the ministry and teaching of Jesus, a real appreciation for the struggle and hardships faced by people living on the streets
GR 12 - Senior Capstone Project
Students will use all they have learned about charity and justice to design and complete a Senior Capstone Project with a minimum commitment of 25 hours. Campus Ministry faculty must approve project proposals. Preparation, reflection, and advocacy components will be more emphasized to help move students from doing acts of charity to actively seeking justice. Here are the three main options to choose from below:
- Service-immersion Program: A school-sponsored or school-approved service-based immersion program which includes educational, service, and reflective components.
- Service-infused Elective/Course: A service-infused course, Inquiry Lab, or Independent Study which includes an ongoing commitment to an organization or issue, as well as educational and reflective components.
- Civic Engagement Project: Students who enjoyed their Community Partner Project during sophomore year can continue to work with their chosen organization or can pick another with which to build a relationship. Recognizing that the goal is to authentically build community with a particular organization, details about commitment levels and duration for the project will be worked out with Service Learning advisors and the organization itself.
Enduring Understandings: a deeper understanding of the difference between charity and justice; an awareness of and comfort with key Catholic Social Teachings like a preferential option for the poor, human dignity, and solidarity; an increase in “critical consciousness that leads [them] to analyze and reflect on the values of society and to act for justice” (Goal III.2) specifically with regard to systematic and structural injustices; departing seniors will be challenged to consider how, moving forward, they will act for justice and sustainably become people of accompaniment and solidarity with the marginalized.

Optional Programs

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Service Immersion
Immersion is an excellent way for students to gain real-world and travel experience, while integrating service and education. Sacred Heart offers a variety of school-sponsored, as well as school-approved, immersion programs throughout the academic year and summer. Students may opt for an immersion opportunity as part of their Senior Capstone Project or in addition to it. To be considered, students must complete an application process and need-based financial aid is always available.
Recent opportunities include:
Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice (Washington, D.C.)
St. Bernard Project (New Orleans, LA)
KINO Border Initiative
Homeboy Industries (Los Angeles, CA)
Taos Pueblo (Taos, NM)
Rebuilding the American Dream (Universidad de Sacrado Corazon - San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Sacred Heart Network Projects (various locations)
Legacy Summer Nonprofit Internship

Through a funded program, rising SHP seniors have an exclusive opportunity to self-design and carry out a service project with a nonprofit organization of their choosing. Students complete an application process and if selected for a Legacy Internship, will work with SHP Service Learning staff to define and outline program goals, coordinate outreach, and secure of a benefiting organization. Legacy Interns will be given a stipend for summer work and travel connected to the project’s execution. Interns will present a formal paper, project deliverable, and will give a formal presentation to the SHP community at the conclusion of the internship.
Heart Exchange

Begun as a collaboration between the Service Learning and Fine Arts departments at SHP, the HeArt Exchange provides enrichment programs for underserved students from the Siena Youth Center in Redwood City. With the support of SHP faculty and students who lead each session, the program meets weekly during the school year, providing lessons in everything from instrumental music to robotics, from physics to photo editing. An example of a true reciprocal partnership, Siena students benefit from our campus and students while SHP students gain valuable social awareness and concrete mentorship skills.

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