Off campus, our boys have accumulated service hours by assisting food service at Our Daily Bread, picking up trash in Druid Hill Park, and participating in and providing support for athletic events to benefit various organizations. Parents are encouraged to find such opportunities for their sons; this is an excellent chance for your son to learn about social issues that are near to your heart and to pass along a family value of service.

Students also have the option to obtain service hours on campus. At the start of every new school year, we enlist the help of Middle School veterans to help orient new and returning families. Assistance with schedule and book distribution is always helpful. Mr. Bob Smith, the assistant athletic director, allows students to help give out athletic equipment at the beginning of the school year, and boys may accumulate hours working with the Game Day Crew and by restocking equipment at the end of each season. In addition, after mid-term exams students can participate in Hoops for Habitat as players or vendors. Students earn hours for their time on this day as well. These are excellent opportunities for students to pick up a couple of hours toward fulfilling the requirement.

On Tuesday afternoons, a cohort of sixth-grade students (approximately one-third of the class) travels to the Pickersgill retirement community via Gilman van and/or parent volunteers. For six consecutive weeks, these students interact through games, biography projects, and casual conversation with members of the retirement and assisted living populations. The entire sixth grade participates throughout the school year. Special care is taken to orient the boys to working with our elder partners. The first Tuesday of every six week session (October, January and April) involves an orientation/presentation by Pickersgill’s volunteer coordinator, Barbara Hawks, and a Gilman parent and founder of the “Magic Me” program, Kathy Shapiro. The boys remain on campus that day and have a chance to discuss their previous experiences with the elderly population and to learn about the Pickersgill’s rules and regulations for volunteers.

We encourage our boys to participate in community service activities other than those organized by the School. To receive credit for any community service project, boys may complete a Community Service form for parents to sign. Community service hours are updated daily and parents receive an email verifying receipt of the form.