COMMON GROUND

"IT’S THE OPPOSITE of one-off. It gets deeper each year.” Meera Patankar is talking about the Middle School’s relationship with the Neah Bay Elementary School on the Olympic Peninsula, where, each fall, Lakeside 8th graders serve as reading buddies and work on science projects with students four and six years younger than themselves. In the evenings, the Lakesiders learn about the history and culture of the Makah Tribe.

Patankar, who manages the Middle School’s Global Service Learning program, could just as easily be talking about the other 8th-grade trips that engage with tribal communities on the peninsula: their work at a native plant nursery in Sequim or their study of the dam removal and restoration of Elwha River watershed, a sacred place in the Lower Elwha Klallam culture.

And, especially, she could be talking about the partnership between Lakeside and the Lake Quinault School, located on the Quinault Reservation, which for years has included an overnight exchange. Overseen by Lakeside’s Carl Engelhardt and Michael Kenney, a Lake Quinault School teacher, the collaboration opens the world. Lakeside students have done trail work in a vast rain forest and visited a salmon hatchery; Quinault students — a third of them Native, a third of them Latinx — have visited the Gates Foundation Discovery Center and spent the night in the Middle School gym enjoying pizza and movies.

“I had some pretty major concerns at first,” admits Kenney. “We’re a tiny, 100% free and reduced lunch school. On the socioeconomic scale, the two schools couldn’t be further apart. But after some initial nervousness, the kids realize: Hey — they’re 8th graders, just like us!”

LAKESIDE HAS ALWAYS believed in the value of service and the vital importance of student learning through active engagement with our local area’s marginalized communities. That can take many forms, through traditional service or in other more creative ways. From tutoring students in families that can’t afford academic help, to working with Seattle Parks and Recreation to help with clearing out invasive species along local streams and rivers, to helping resettled refugees new to the Seattle community find affordable housing, Lakeside students have made a real difference in the lives of so many, and they will continue to do so — well beyond the 80-hour service requirement.

What we strive for with the service learning program is to steer students towards service that addresses complex societal needs — mainly to give our time and energy to be a proactive participant in tackling these issues and to learn more about what historically has created the needs in the first place. The learning is important because once we engage these challenges, we begin to understand them at a deep and personal level, which empowers us to make meaningful change. It is important to work directly with those who use these services, learn their stories, form actual relationships with the partners whose mission is to support these communities, and reflect on what we can do to make this world a better place. That is why we have the requirement. That is why we believe this learning is as important as which level students reach in the math curriculum or which electives they take in science. It is about helping students form their character and leave this place with a clear set of values for how they may use their Lakeside education in the future. While Lakeside students have a lot of talents to offer, the focus should be more on what we can learn from our nonprofit partners and the communities they serve. The perspective should be more about humbly learning and understanding their needs and doing what is necessary to address the issues they face. The issue could be housing insecurity, food scarcity, lack of educational opportunities, language barriers, lack of sanitation, or general poverty. No matter the need, Lakeside students should enter into this context with a perspective of “How can I help?” rather than “What talents do I have to offer?”

In addition to the individual service that students provide on their own time, we have organized time during the school year for students to engage with different nonprofits both on campus and in the field. In October, our 9th graders participated in a service day on campus where they heard from representatives from AidNW from Tacoma and The Bridge Care Center in Seattle. AidNW supports immigrants who have been detained and released from the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Tacoma, and The Bridge addresses the needs of those experiencing homelessness in Seattle. Students prepared toiletry kits, snack bags, and wrote letters of encouragement and support to those using these services and learned about the issues each face.

In the Middle School, students embarked on different service projects throughout the city for two days in early April, learning about issues concerning the environment, food, housing, addiction and recovery, and other pressing needs in our local community. They participated in invasive species removal near streams to help local salmon habitats, took tours of tiny house villages designed to address housing insecurity, made compost at urban gardens, and served hot meals at weekly community gatherings in different areas throughout the city. Students then worked with their teachers and advisors during the remaining days of the week to reflect on what they learned and create plans for continued participation to strengthen these partnerships with Lakeside in the future.

As we look ahead to imagine how Lakesiders can use the city of Seattle and the world as an intentional learning environment, our commitment to service learning and direct engagement with these partnership communities will be the central focus of our curriculum. We believe it is our responsibility as educators — and our obligation as citizens — to expose Lakeside students to these complex issues and help them see the impact we all can make by working together to make this world a better place and to fulfill the mission of our school.

— Bryan Smith, director of experiential education