Students Start the Year by Helping Others

Along with the opening Cathedral service and flag-raising, community service has become a first-day tradition at NCS.

On September 7, students fanned out across town to prepare food, work with children, visit with seniors, and do battle with invasive plants. "Leadership and service are central to the NCS mission,” says Head of School Kathleen O’Neill Jamieson. “We set the tone in September and then the girls take off. They commit to programs and projects, provide much needed elbow grease and creative solutions to problems, and they experience the impact a single individual can make on a person or community in need.”

The entire 7th grade participated in an on-site service effort sorting and bagging cloths for donation to Martha’s Outfitters. They also made 100 bag lunches for the Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place.

The 8th grade split into several groups and fanned out across the area. One group cleared invasive species from an area being developed as a bird sanctuary; they worked under the auspices of Earth Sangha, a nonprofit charity devoted to ecological restoration. Other 8th-grade groups went to: So Others Might Eat, an organization helping the poor and homeless, to serve lunch; Community of Hope, to sort school supplies and ready back-to-school facilities for underserved families; Bethesda Cares, to make bag lunches and serve a hot lunch; and Martha’s Outfitters, to sort clothing for their thrift shop.

Ninth-grade students visited several senior centers and nursing homes, including Friendship Place, Friendship Terrace, Iona Senior Services Day Center, the Lisner Home, and the Washington Home. At Friendship Terrace, students and seniors engaged in a lively discussion of current events, socioeconomic issues, and politics. At the Washington Home, students created banners upon which residents will record their thoughts about September 11 as part of a Story Corps project for the Pentagon Memorial. A group of 9th-graders also served as classroom aides at the STA Early Childhood Center at St. Albans Parish.

Twelfth-grade students traveled to: Martha’s Table, to help with food preparation and work with children in their daycare center; the Capitol Area Food Bank, to sort and prepare food; and visited St. Albans Parish to participate in senior program activities.

The 10th and 11th grades spent the day in respective grade-wide retreats, participating in team-building exercises and grade-specific conversations on health and wellness (10th) and transitions (11th). They will engage in community service activities throughout the year.

Inspired by the recent National Geographic special issue, “Water: Our Thirsty World,” the Lower School has chosen “water” as this year’s service learning theme. On Sept. 9 all Lower School students heard a special presentation by Science Teacher Bridget Williams about water in the world--what is it, how much do we have, and why it's important.  Throughout the year, students will learn about water pollution and purification, water usage and shortages, water conservation, and how we can help make this vital resource available to those who have little or no access to it.