Creating Community
SOCIAL ACTION PROJECTS
Students organize to help our local, national, and world communities. Boys and girls work with ‘outreach’ organizations to relieve some of the most pressing social needs.
Classroom curricula are expanded to supplement social action projects. Teachers present guided lessons and activities concerning the history and social life of the people we assist, as well as case studies of individuals struggling under the conditions we are attempting to improve.
DURING PAST YEARS, LAUREL HILL STUDENTS HAVE:
- Supported the Heifer Project, an organization that promotes self-sufficiency, by donating livestock and farming education to needy families.
- Raised funds to assist families affected by the 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador and India.
- Raised sufficient funds to construct a schoolhouse to serve residents of a rural village in Madagascar, and to support a teacher’s salary for one year.
- Raised funds allowing one hundred children in Ethiopia to receive lunches every day for a year.
- Raised funds supporting the operation of anti-Taliban clandestine home schools for girls in pre-9/11 Afghanistan.
- Raised funds that purchased the freedom of chattel slaves in Mauritania.
- Supported local food pantries, hospitals, and hospice.
- Raised funds for various 9/11 charities.
- Supported numerous local and national healthcare initiatives.
- Responded to emergencies due to natural disaster.
- Provided clean water filtration systems to villages in Cambodia.
MICRO-SOCIETY
Our Micro-Society program is a student-run town in miniature, complete with everything from a bank to a marketplace to a mediation center. There is even an IRS! Micro-Society presents a realistic setting to learn about commerce and institutions, to practice citizenship skills, and to learn to resolve problems in everyday adult life.
THEMES
Themes are school-wide curriculum enrichment projects that allow the entire student body to study together as a community. Each year, students explore themes such as.
- Black History: Concepts of social justice, equality and activism are emphasized.
- Poetry: Children become acquainted with the unique styles of major poets, and learn to integrate these styles into their own writing. Children learn to recite poetry, create poetry, and publish poetry in a special anthology.
- Earth Day: Children complete projects relating to ecology and environmentalism. They celebrate the wonders of the natural world while learning active strategies for environmentally responsible living.
- Election Year “Great Debates”:Children assume the identity of leading politicians as they prepare to debate an urgent issue facing our country. The experience culminates in a school-wide debate in which teams argue a particular viewpoint, and then examine their own opinions. Citizenship, civic responsibility, and news awareness are emphasized.
- Classic Classics: Children engage in an in-depth exploration of essential childhood classics. Literary analysis, story structuring, character development, and voice are brought to life in activities that raise literacy to new levels.