Service Learning Designed by Huskies

Huskies Service Projects at the High School Level: Year Two

Words and images: J.Pangier

Video: Yeeun Hong

Service Project Design: The HIS HS Huskies

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One of the most endearing four-letter words I know is not one that any of our grandparents or parents have forbidden us to use. This four-letter word is one that people "who put a positive dent in the world" are known for. It's, perhaps, the most beautiful word in the English language.

Without further ado.

H-E-L-P. 

Helping is at the core of our service learning projects. For over two years, staff at HIS collaborated to revise, revamp, and remodel the way we do service learning, stressing both the learning and fulfillment of needs; emphasizing the need for our students to be able to identify needs in our surrounding community and ways they might actively serve to meet those needs.

Each student-created service project culminates during the 2023 Huskies Service Week from June 5th to June 9th. Right now, students are working on centering their project with a vision and logistics so that the projects can be carried out successfully. 

As a glimpse of where our Huskies are at in the process, please enjoy this student-made pre-service video titled "Combatting climate change in Hokkaido."

The video's careful scripting, smooth narration, stunning visuals, and organization beautifully show the vision for this group's project for June 2023.

Last year, still treading water in the pandemic, Husky secondary students provided in-house service, teaching and working together with our elementary students. Anticipating our escape from the boundaries put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, we opened up the door for service beyond the walls of HIS; inviting students to create service projects that would meet authentic needs in a way that would impact the world in a greater way. 

This year, six high school groups have emerged, spearheaded by team leaders—those with novel ideas—and carried forward by the rest of the group to meet a need that fits within at least one of the school-selected UN Sustainable Development Goals:

In the coming weeks, I will release a series of updates to share how our Huskies are engaging with my favorite four-letter word—to meet a need and to learn the value of helping through a process that doesn't just do—that doesn't just talk—that doesn't just reflect—but does all of those things. The goal? To help others, which helps ourselves, which, in turn, helps the world. One beautiful circle of H-E-L-P.