Community Service
Pembroke Hill School has a strong commitment to community service. Beginning in the lower school, students participate in activities that are designed to instill a life-long commitment to giving back to their community.
Each year, the projects change a little depending on the interest of the students and current events. For example, when Hurricane Katrina hit, a multitude of community service projects were launched – everything from a school-wide food drive for Harvesters to collections for the American Red Cross and supplies for the rescue dogs. The school also enrolled several families who had been displaced from New Orleans. In January 2007, more than 40 upper school students and four adults traveled to New Orleans for a week to work with Habitat for Humanity.
The Pembroke Hill School has also worked with The American Red Cross for the school to be used as an emergency shelter if ever needed. It was needed in January 2007 when the school’s Deramus Field House was converted into an emergency shelter for bus passengers who were stranded in Kansas City because of an ice storm.
Each division sponsors its own community service projects. In the lower school that may mean a book collection for a partner elementary school in Kansas City, or a bake sale to raise funds for an orphanage in Asia, or a sock collection to help a local social service agency.
In the middle school, each advisory participates in service projects throughout the year, such as collecting items for government agencies who assist families and supporting UNICEF as well as Adopt-A-Family programs. In this division, there are also grade-level community service projects that pair students with their parents working in the Kansas City community.
The upper school sponsors many activities that help others in the community. During the upper school January Interterm Week, more than 100 students donated their time to a multitude of not-for-profit organizations. Upper school students also participate in grade-level community service projects throughout the year. The seniors traditionally spend the last day of classes before their finals in May working together on a community project. All upper school students must complete 60 hours of community service to graduate – most of our graduates do much more than that. An upper school director of community service assists students in completing this requirement.
