THE Kinkaid School
The Gleason Family – Melinda, Griffin ’25, Joe and Emmett
Keeping in mind the program’s pledge to be student led, Roff credits the newly established Community Service Council as key to the program. This year, under the leadership of Council President Bianca Kaushal ’13, the 15-member team committed to identify, promote and lead about 10 projects that include outings for students, whether their interest be sports, nature, fitness, math, science, the environment, working with children or helping veterans. “Students have a lot of different interests,” Kaushal says, “so we try to offer a variety of service opportunities so everyone can find something they like.” Calin Ackerman ’13 is honored to be on the Council and serve as co-chair of the Special Olympics bocce ball tournament. “Both my siblings have learning differences, so I can really relate to some of the kids—I just love the whole idea—it combines all the grades of Upper School, and even some from Middle School and faculty. We all come together to referee the bocce ball games for these special kids. Being on the Council is a big honor. It has taught me that if you want something to happen, you’ve got to make it happen; just sitting around and talking about good ideas isn’t going to get the job done.”
“Service develops the whole person, so much like athletics, we felt it needed to be a required part of the educational experience at Kinkaid.”
Upper School Principal Patrick Loach affirms that Ackerman is the kind of student the Council needs, saying, “Calin has maturity and responsibility you don’t see in every high schooler—and she’s willing to take ownership of these projects and deliver. She’s also been very effective at bringing other people along with her and ultimately that is part of leadership. We created the Council not only to provide leadership opportunities for students but also to elevate its importance…so at some point in the future it will be seen alongside Honor Council and our Governing Council.”
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Samantha Dillon ’23
“We use a lot of teen volunteers, and this year we had a group from Kinkaid not only come to help but also offer to bring a craft activity and run it,” says Ann Eisner, Program Coordinator for Nature Discovery Center’s Pumpkin Patch. “This was spectacular because it gave the students the option to be creative and come up with something they wanted to do; it gave them more of an interest in being here.” Currently the program requires upper school students to join in one project, either during the school year or over the summer. Roff acknowledges that initially there was concern over the program’s requirements and whether there would be a requisite number of hours. “Service develops the whole person, so much like athletics, we felt it needed to be a required part of the educational experience at Kinkaid. We really want to inspire students to do more community service on their own. Therefore, we decided there would be a requirement, but not an onerous one, because our students are challenged in every way possible, and adding a requirement of many additional hours did not seem to fit with our philosophy.” Ackerman thinks requiring community service participation is beneficial. She says “Serving others teaches kids a lot of good things, and I think it’s also a way to breathe—away from the stress of school. Plus it’s really fun, and you meet a lot of new people. At the tree planting, I met a freshman whom I probably never would have met had we not volunteered together.”