Service Learning >>
Capstone Service Projects at International Community School Bangkok By Stephen Ladas, Assistant Headmaster, stephen_l@ics.ac.th International Community School In 2012, International Community School (ICS) Bangkok’s administration envisioned creating a culminating project for graduating students that would demonstrate the accomplishment of our ICS educational goals – to become lifelong learners, competent communicators, discerning thinkers, quality producers, team players, responsible citizens, and followers of Christ. The Capstone Service Project was the outcome of this vision. The 2017 graduating class just completed the third annual Capstone Service Project Fair. The overall project took two years to complete. Over 60 students finished individual projects, and this activity stretched every one of them in many ways. It began with students discovering what area they were passionate in serving in. They completed a needs assessment within a given non-government organization (NGO) or mission agency. They then had to research the societal problem they were facing, serve many hours within their chosen organization - helping meet the needs of the people they were serving.
Jade (12) shares on empowering women through education in Sri Lanka.”
Finally, they brainstormed viable solutions. The culminating piece of the project consisted of them completing an 8-10 page research/ reflective paper and presenting their findings and final product to parents, teachers, board members, and NGO leaders in our annual Capstone Service Project Fair. Their creativity was pushed to the limit this year as they were not given any tables or chairs in their presentation areas, just a space to share and show their findings with the community in an engaging way. Many of the products put forth were wonderfully innovative. Projects ranged from helping develop clean water systems in up-country areas of Thailand, to doing a sustainable study to determine whether coffee can be planted to help fund an orphanage in Sri Lanka, to creating a small business for an elderly family in need, to forging a relationship with a school in Northern Thailand and maintaining a library of both English and Thai books for them, to working alongside women escaping prostitution and using art therapy to help offer hope and healing to them, to creating a safe place to learn for Pakistani asylum seekers in Bangkok, and many, many more.
Fay Fay’s booth gives us a glimpse into the library he created in a rural school of Northern Thailand.
The beauty of the Capstone Service Project is that every student has an opportunity to serve and seeing the growth that takes place within each of them through their 2-year long journey. The Capstone Service Fair is definitely one of the “can’t miss” events of the year at ICS Bangkok.
26 EARCOS Triannual Journal
Jean explains the impact that serving in a NGO, which offers work to students with mental disabilities, had on shaping her heart.
