Community service, being a requirement for graduation, is an important part of being a student at Saint Stephen’s. Students start early in middle mchool with regular community service trips during the school day.  In the upper school, they have to take on the initiative on their own.

When students get to high school, students are required to get 100 hours of community service outside of regular school hours, 80 of which must be done outside of school. For many people, it is hard to find the time to get in those 100 hours or to decide what kind of community service to do.

What many of these people don’t know is that there is a perfect community service opportunity going on right under their noses: Boys and Girls Club. Every Monday and Wednesday at 3:45, a group of students take a van to the Boys and Girls Club, an after school club for kids, and helps a group of elementary school kids with their homework.

Going to Boys and Girls Club isn’t time consuming, as it is only from 4:00-5:00, and the late departure allows for students to spend some time working on homework in the library before they have to go. Furthermore, the community service hours count towards the outside-of-school hours, so going once a week is a great way to get a steady and reliable stream of service hours.

Even more importantly, going to Boys and Girls Club is a rewarding experience, as the students who go get to feel as if they are really helping the kids there.

Sophomore Abby Gentsch, a regular visitor of the Boys and Girls Club, says, “Boys and Girls Club allows me to learn more about the world around me and what others are going through while giving me an opportunity to help others.”

Unfortunately, Boys and Girls Club service trips aren’t currently very well known and has very few participants. Often, there are only one or two people going, and sometimes nobody goes at all.

Mrs. Angelo, who is in charge of the project, wants to see more students and teachers taking an interest. She says, “I would love to have students join us at Boys and Girls Club because I know that what we do at Boys and Girls Club really makes a difference.”

If you think that Boys and Girls Club is something you’d be interested in, see Mrs. Angelo for more details. As a flexible and easily accessible community service option, it is available to almost every student who is free from 3:45-5:00 on Mondays and/or Wednesday.