Students, Service, and Strength of Heart

Students may volunteer to do community service as their afternoon co-curricular commitment. Typically, a student is on-site at a service project four days per week. Some students combine a recreational sport or special exercise with a community service project that only requires one or two afternoons per week.

“The test of the worth of any school is, in the last analysis, the record of her alumni … it is our sincere hope that the tradition of service instilled and nurtured here … may endure always to the lasting benefit of the country and the world.” —Frank L. Boyden

The community service program at Deerfield continues to expand and diversify. Students involved in the co-curricular program have worked at the Greenfield Animal Shelter, two farms, a variety of daycare and after-school programs, social service agencies, shelters, and nursing homes. Students also participate in on-campus projects such as Computers for Senior Citizens, where students instruct retirees in basic computer skills.

There are also opportunities for service for all students through their co-curricular groups. Every term each co-curricular group (athletic teams, recreational sports, dance, theater, yearbook, etc.) performs one service project; thus every student and most faculty members are involved in service work all year long. Students may also volunteer at Second Helpings, a soup kitchen in Greenfield. Many one-time opportunities such as weekend projects are also offered on a sign-up basis.

Deerfield students who want to work with children have several opportunities: through the Franklin County Big Brother/Big Sister program, about 70 juniors and seniors spend time with their “little” every Friday evening. In addition, a section of Spanish IV visits a local elementary school one morning a week to teach conversational Spanish to eight-year-olds.

In the summer students can apply for a Workman Grant or Cost award to finance self-initiated service projects in their home communities. In conjunction with Cambiando Vidas, Deerfield students travel to the Dominican Republic each year to build a house for a Dominican family. Finally, as a Round Square School, with links to secondary schools and service projects all over the world, Deerfield also invites students to apply for joint service projects in many different countries during school vacations.