Charlotte Latin Service Society
Class of 2023 Inductees
The stated mission of Charlotte Latin School is to “encourage individual development and civility in our students by inspiring them to learn, by encouraging them to serve others, and by offering them many growth-promoting opportunities.” The Charlotte Latin Service Learning Program provides numerous opportunities to meet these objectives.
Participation in our service program allows students to develop an appreciation and understanding of service to others. Through exposure to and interaction with people with diverse backgrounds, abilities, and sociocultural traditions, students have first-hand opportunities to learn, to explore, and to find shared human concerns. These experiences help students discover abilities within themselves and others. The Service Learning Program provides opportunities for our students to develop leadership skills so that they can more effectively serve the community at large.
encourage students to participate in the Service Learning Program and to recognize those students who have made significant contributions to the area of community service. To be inducted into the Service Society, a four-year student must perform at least 150 hours of service. Students who transfer into our school will have their hour requirements prorated. Students may earn the necessary hours at any time in their Latin career, including summers, beginning with the summer before the Grade 9 year.
It is hoped that service to others will become part of a student’s lifestyle and that a significant number of hours will be earned during the school year through the school’s service program. It is also hoped that the service will, for the most part, be service to those truly in need. Service must be rendered to persons outside of the Upper School and must benefit people outside of the student’s peer group or people within non-school organizations of which the student is a member. The members of the Class of 2023 listed below have met the requirements for induction into the Service Society. This booklet has been created to recognize their achievement.
The Charlotte Latin Service Society was created to
Anya Amin
Ellie Chai
Leiden Clark
Jane Cotchett
Bennett Egge
Emily Hidell
Helen Hurden
Hailey Kim
Wyatt Mayberry
Ella Smith
Avery Swartz
Elaine Tang
Macy Thigpen
Lea Troutman
Teddy Warner
Service Organizations
Below is a small selection of the many organizations
Charlotte Latin Upper School students have worked with in recent years.
Service Trip and International Support
Community Organizations Schools
ACEing Autism
American Red Cross
Autism Charlotte
Best Buddies
Blessings in a Backpack
CHAMP
Club Sandwich
Community Blood Bank
Cookies for Kids Cancer
Creative Player
Crisis Assistance Ministry
Furnish For Good
Girl Up
Girls Who Code
GoGo Rangers
Habitat for Humanity
Hope Haven
Humane Society of Charlotte
iCan Bike
ImaginOn
Intutorly
Latin American Festival
Levine Children’s Hospital
Loaves and Fishes
Matthews Help Center
Mel’s Diner
Melodic Minors
Mitey Riders
Nevins Center
ParaOlympics
Paws for the Cause
Promising Pages
Race for the Cure
Room in the Inn
Safe Alliance
Samaritan’s Purse
Sandbox
Second Harvest
Food Bank
Serve for the Cure
SPCA
Special Olympics
Stop Hunger Now
Take on Sports
Young Life
Africa
Arizona
Australia
Belize
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Honduras Home for Girls
India
Mexico
Nica Nadadores
SEWA International
Thailand
Tumaini Tanzania
Ballantyne Elementary
Billingsville Elementary
Charlotte Bilingual Preschool
Community School for the Arts
Cotswold Elementary
Druid Hills Elementary
Endhaven Elementary
Lakewood Preschool
Lansdowne Elementary
McAlpine Elementary
Parkwood Elementary
Pinewood Elementary
Winterfield Elementary
Westerly Hills Elementary
Yellow Brick Road Preschool
To me, service means putting the needs of others above the needs of myself. I choose to serve to help those less fortunate than myself to ensure everyone gets the same experiences in life, such as riding a bike. From volunteering for iCan Bike each summer, I continue to help kids with physical disabilities learn to ride a bike. Watching the kids go from being scared to get on the bike to riding completely by themselves is a reward in itself. Serving during my time at Latin has helped me see how some of us live much more privileged lives than others and how rewarding it is to help others fulfill accomplishments they never imagined they could.
Anya Amin
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”
– Elizabeth Andrew
To me, service is the ability and willingness to help others. Whether it be service trips to countries with mass poverty or just attending a service club at Latin, I have been blessed with opportunities to help others in need and that is not something I am willing to waste. At Latin we are all capable of helping others and in my mind there is no excuse not to. I serve because I am able to. There are so many people in the world incapable of helping others because they must help themselves and I strive to give back to those people. The impact of one small act for your community is much larger than anyone realizes. You never know how much effect an extra smile or kind words will have on a person so why not just do it anyways. I was given a life that allows me to have opportunities for service, and I have decided that I will act on these opportunities to help those who need it most.
Ellie Chai
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”
– Albert Einstein
Service to me is using wisdom and privilege to directly impact the paths and futures of others in your community. I deeply believe that service is the necessary way to finding peace and happiness in one’s life as it teaches the practice of gratitude. We are put into our communities to make them better and help each person become the best versions of themselves they can be, which is definitely what I do with “Faith, Hope, and Love.” As I have been blessed with amazing educational opportunities, I know it’s just as important for these inner-city students to get the same chances. A study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that, “One in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade do not graduate from high school on time, a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers.” This directly demonstrates the reason I serve at “Faith, Hope, and Love” as I want to foster a community where children are tutored in reading and writing to give them the best chance at graduation and past that.
Leiden Clark
“The greatest success we’ll know is helping others succeed and grow.”
– Gregory Scott
Ever since the first day that I volunteered for Young Life, I knew I would begin to dedicate much of my time and effort. Showing up without a phone in the middle of nowhere for a month may sound like the ultimate nightmare, but the difference my volunteer work made in so many lives made it all worth it. The looks on the teenagers’ faces when we served them meals and cleaned their cabins were more significant than any reward I could imagine. There were many instances where my volunteer work was never noticed or recognized, making the reward ten times more impactful. I went on multiple Young Life trips serving families and teenagers, often providing them with an experience they would cherish forever, and being able to serve a role in a life-changing experience proved all of the hard work worth it. Not only was I able to impact the lives of hundreds of teenagers and families, but I was also able to use the work to better
Jane Cotchett
myself and build relationships with countless new people. Being able to reach out and help those in need or those less fortunate than I am will always be something that I strive to achieve, no matter the work. The impact on others’ lives is the ultimate reward I will continue to strive for.
“There is no such thing as a simple act of compassion or an inconsequential act of service. Everything we do for another person has infinite consequences.”
– Caroline Myss
Bennett Egge
When I first walked into Creative Player, I had feelings of nervousness and anxiety that the children I was serving would not open up to me, that they would see me as an outsider. Through working with the same group for over three years, I have had some of the most humbling experiences all while connecting with kids that I now consider friends. By predominantly tutoring Hispanic students in English, I have seen their linguistic abilities increase tenfold, allowing them to navigate their lives with more confidence and to immerse themselves in daily American life. I serve because I love seeing each individual child grow both intellectually and socially, and it makes me feel accomplished knowing I have helped people that are truly in need. Through these experiences, I now understand the everyday struggles that many of these children endure, and will continue to work my hardest in providing a safe community in which they can prosper.
“A life isn’t significant except for its impact on others lives.”
– Jackie Robinson
Service to me means putting others before oneself to make a difference in someone’s life. Service is helping other people while making them happy. It is not something I did just to get hours but something that made me happy while guiding a stranger down a better path. Service has allowed me to grow as a person and positively impact other people’s lives and give them hope. To see the impact I had on others while taking my time away from me allowed me to see what good I can do in this world.
Emily Hidell
“Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.”
– H. Jackson Brown Jr.
To me, service is not only an opportunity to leave the world slightly better than I found it, but provides me a way to connect with and learn about the lives, struggles, and histories of different groups within my community. From the time I was in Lower School, participating in church-run meal packing events with my family, making sandwiches for the homeless alongside my classmates in Shelton Hall, or sorting cans on service trips to Second Harvest Food Bank, I always felt a fundamental desire not only to help as many people as I could, but to provide this help in a way that was more personal than putting old clothes in a collection bin or making an online donation. Service, especially through the organization Mel’s Diner, allowed me to interact face-to-face with the communities my work was benefiting. While some people find this type of service intimidating, it allowed me to reflect on the differences between my life and those of the people I observed
Helen Hurden
and build my understanding of the differences between the ways people in Charlotte live. In this way, service allowed me to step outside of the Latin bubble and develop an understanding of the lives of Charlotte’s low income residents and refugee populations while gaining a sense of fulfillment from providing aid to those in need.
“With charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.”
– Mother Theresa
When I first started Volunteering for Promising Pages, I did it without really knowing what I was doing or what the act of volunteering meant. I soon realized that volunteering without a goal was limiting what I could do for our community. That’s when I started Melodic Minors. I had a clear goal this time — to bring joy to people in our community through music. I learned that even a small action to one can become a big action to another.
Hailey Kim
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of others.”
— Charles Dickens
My service is an opportunity to give back to the community that has helped me become the person that I am. Volunteering at Camp allows me to contribute to sending kids to camp with scholarships. Recreating the camp experience for these kids enables me to pass on the mentoring and life lessons I was given. Watching campers becoming better people in addition to having fun, satisfies me with the thought that I have had a positive impact on their lives.
Wyatt Mayberry
“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”
— Winston Churchill
Service is making a positive impact on others by offering my support, time, and commitment. I serve because I know that it can help somebody else’s life become just a little bit easier. I have found volunteering to be an incredibly humbling experience that has allowed me to see the needs in our community more closely. The moment that was most eye opening to me was when I donated the cans I collected from my first food drive to Second Harvest Food Bank. Although I was proud of collecting hundreds of cans, when I wheeled the cart into the warehouse and saw cans stacked from the floor to the ceiling I realized that there are so many more people in need of food than I ever could have imagined. And I also realized that so many people also donate. Service has impacted my life because it has broadened my view beyond our environment and shown me how even small acts can improve the lives of others.
Ella Smith
“Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference.”
– Kathy Calvin
Avery Swartz
Starting the Furnish for Good Youth Council with my friend Anne Carden has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my time at Latin. Furnish for Good aims to provide Charlotte natives with a fully furnished home directly out of homelessness. Through this initiative, I have realized that big change can not only be made by adults, but teens as well. Once a month, we would get together to host a donation drive, work at the organization warehouse, or build furniture — and I enjoyed every second. As co-chair of the Youth Council, it was extremely rewarding to bring teens from all over Charlotte together for a single cause. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing our hard work help real people in the Charlotte community — some of whom live within a couple miles of me. After departing to college, I still plan to stay involved with Furnish, for Good but I will definitely miss leading the Youth Council immensely.
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Creating GoGo Rangers has not only shown me the joy of helping others, but also the self-growth that comes with it. Over the past few years, GoGo Rangers has matured alongside me. While working hard on building GoGo Rangers from scratch into a full-blown organization, I’ve realized the importance of being resilient and perseverant for those in need. Now, every time I see children learn more about national parks and environmental protection virtually through GoGo Rangers, I’m reminded of how important it is to share your passions and experiences with others. Whether they’re gazing at Old Faithful or marveling at giant sequoias, I am glad that I’ve sparked curiosity about national parks and inspired so many children to be friends with planet Earth.
Elaine Tang
“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”
– Booker T. Washington
Service has pushed me to understand how important it is to look out for your neighbors in as many ways as possible. Throughout my service experience, I have been able to work with a variety of nonprofits targeting different issues in the Charlotte community. I especially connected with the staff of Loaves and Fishes and would volunteer as much as I could. My favorite part to help with was delivering the food we packaged to our neighbor’s houses and speaking with them about their struggles with food insecurity. To me, the difference between a good community member and a great community member is taking the step to form relationships with the community members we are serving. Repeatedly going to these people’s homes and seeing the impact we make as volunteers as their food insecurity situations improve make me understand why volunteering is more than just gaining hours for any award — it is learning to genuinely care for all of your neighbors, and extending your hand to help.
Macy Thigpen
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
– Muhammad Ali
Throughout my time participating in service projects during high school, I have learned the true value of helping others. Not only has service provided me with so much happiness, it has also shaped the person I am today. As a leader of Blessings and a Backpack, most of my hours were spent shopping, packing, and delivering weekend bags for food-insecure students at Winterfield Elementary School in Charlotte’s Eastside community. The most rewarding experience for me was during COVID-19 when we created a contact-less way to continue operating our club. The feedback we received from these families was so gratifying. Other service projects I took part in include making face shields during COVID, working with Promising Pages and Baby Bundles, and lastly Paws for a Cause. I am looking forward to continuing to participate in service projects in college.
Lea Troutman
“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.”
– Marianne Williamson
Service has not only allowed me to directly benefit my community, but has been the catalyst in creating many of the personal connections which I appreciate the most. The summer before my sophomore year, I volunteered alongside a number of other Latin Engineering students in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of 114,000 Covid shields for hospital staff, school children, and faculty in the Charlotte-Metro area. While our ages ranged greatly, the desire to contribute to the ongoing crisis relief shared by all of us working on the project as well as our shared interest in digital fabrication quickly lead to new found friendships and community. From our countless hours spent watching the laser cutter to our cross-campus golfcart delivery runs, service has been fundamental in the creation of many of my favorite memories, as well as in the connections which exist behind them.
Teddy Warner
“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.”
– Lao Tzu
