Volunteering and citizenship at IPS

BY Casey James

Service is a foundation principle at Island Pacific School. It starts at home and school and spreads to the world around us. Students are encouraged to consider their own interests to determine what type of service best suits them as they complete their service hours in the local environment and consider what they can do to contribute to the global community.

In December, IPS students spent a day making soup, gingerbread cookies, greeting cards, and chili, then packing the food into the bus and bringing it to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

They also volunteered at the Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery, at an elder’s home helping organize their storage, walked dogs and stacked wood. They built a bannister at Artisan Square and volunteered at Rivendell Retreat.

In 2023, students will be engaged in a myriad of projects, including:

• building a climbing wall at the school

• collecting and donating books to another country

• raising money for Ducks Unlimited Canada

• educating people about drug toxicity and overdoses

• raising money for the school’s playscape

• volunteering at an animal shelter

• creating a welcoming art piece for Indigenous people at the school

• starting a drone racing club

• beach clean-ups

The service in action program aims to instil a sense of citizenship and civic engagement in the students and, by extension, their families to act in response to the needs of a ‘community’. To read more about the Student Community Service Program, please visit https://islandpacific.org/student-community-service/.