Student Life
Social Service

Social Service Program Details

– From the St. Albans School Handbook

List of 2 items.

  • Lower School

    Although the Lower School has no formal social service requirement, students are encouraged to be involved in a variety of activities that develop empathy for others and a sense that they can make a positive difference in the world.

    Social service opportunities include seasonal toy, food, and clothing drives, financial contributions to service organizations identified in chapel or by individual classes, and other age-appropriate activities. Ideas for service projects may arise from individual students, homerooms or advisory groups, teachers, and parent groups. Recent examples include a school-wide collection of sports equipment for a Maryland organization, Leveling the Playing Field, led by Form II students and parents, Form I participation in the laying of Christmas wreaths at Arlington Cemetery, and C Formers, led by their teachers, making sandwiches in the Cafritz Refectory for Martha’s Table.
  • Upper School

    Upper School students participate in the Social Service Program, designed to encourage in students a sense of concern and responsibility for the city in which they live, to help them mature personally through a better understanding of people with whom they share the world, and to foster a commitment to continued service.

    Students receive an orientation to the Social Service Program as part of the Form III curriculum, partner with a service organization, fulfill 60 hours of person-to-person service work (before the beginning of Form VI), and submit a completed “Supervisor’s Evaluation” from the service organization. St. Albans believes that service benefits students by increasing their understanding of problems facing our community, by developing their sensitivities to differences and their abilities to work through them, by enhancing their self-awareness and independence, and by exposing them to career opportunities.

    Students volunteer at a variety of organizations in the Washington, D.C., area including soup kitchens, Head Start educational programs, nursing homes, therapeutic camps, and tutoring locations. Students must conduct at least 30 of their service hours in the Washington, D.C., area—and are encouraged to satisfy all 60 hours in the area. They may, however, with the permission of the social service director, travel to other communities to serve alongside others.

    The social service director works closely with students and numerous agencies in the metropolitan area to help students find service projects suited to their talents and interests and the agencies’ needs. The school website includes several approved agencies where students can accrue hours towards the 60-hour requirement. Students are also encouraged to submit proposals for their own service projects to the social service director. Alternative project proposals require a brief written description and formal approval from the school before the project begins. Further information is available on the website.

    The following conditions must be satisfied for service hours to count toward the graduation requirement:
    ◾     Students are required to engage in projects that provide a distinctly different character and social climate from what they might encounter on the Cathedral Close.
    ◾     The service must be person-to-person service to help foster learning about oneself and others.
    ◾     The service should include work with a constituency that is underserved or at risk.
    ◾     Approval must be obtained before work to ensure credit.
    ◾     After a student completes a service project, he must submit the completed “Supervisor’s Evaluation Form” to the social service director.
    ◾     Upper School students will be expected to complete at least 20 hours during each calendar year leading up to their senior year, until they reach at least 60 hours.

    Form V and VI students with a strong interest in service are encouraged to work with a local organization even after they have fulfilled their 60-hour social service commitment. Form V students who have demonstrated a deep commitment toward social service and who have completed their 60 hours of work may apply for the Sports-Social Service Option, which allows juniors to work closely with one particular organization or on one issue during a dedicated sports season. Form V students who take this option should volunteer at least ten hours a week at a service organization that meets the required guidelines of the Social Service Program. In Form VI, students may use their sports cut to take on a more intensive volunteer experience. Interested Form V and Form VI students should contact the social service director, the athletic director, and their advisor.

    NOTE FOR 2022-23
    Because of the COVID pandemic, service hours were adjusted to 40 total for the Class of 2023.
Located in Washington D.C.,  St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.