SERVICE LEARNING

School Clubs and Activities

Service learning is defined by its unique approach to addressing genuine community needs and giving back to those communities nationally and internationally. Globally-minded and value-driven students are engaged with community outreach and service learning. These projects help students develop transcendent values of care, respect, responsibility, and courage.

ISB’s Service Learning program seeks to develop learners who are:

• Reflective thinkers who understand their strengths and limitations, who can identify goals, devise personal growth strategies and are willing to accept challenges

• Aware of themselves as members of communities with responsibilities towards each other and the environment

• Active participants in sustained, collaborative projects

• Balanced, who enjoy and find significance in various activities involving intellectual, physical, creative, and emotional experiences

International School Bangkok students are constantly engaged in community outreach & service learning activities. This past school year, ISB students spent a total of 7,400 hours in clubs, with 3,800 of those hours being spent on service-related activities and clubs. Of the 54 active student clubs in the 2021-22 school year, 30 were service clubs. Although some of our usual service activities were canceled due to COVID-19 regulations this year, several old and new activities took place.

Middle School

ISB Middle School students demonstrated great care, courage, and commitment through various service clubs, events, and trips this past year. Here are some of the highlights from the 2021-22 school year.

The COVID Relief Club focused on helping those most impacted by COVID - mainly by working with iCare to get food and financial donations, raising over THB 100,000. ISB hosted a Service Conference, where 10 Middle School students volunteered to run ice breakers and a simulation on sustainability called “Tragedy of the Commons.” We also hosted Shark Guardians at ISB for an assembly to educate our students about shark conservation.

With the TerraCycle Thai Foundation, MS students went on a trip where they cleaned out the klongs in Bangkok. In total, they removed 1,065 kg of trash. Students also worked with Ocean Cleanup at an event to witness the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. This MOU will bring interceptors (river clean-up devices) to the Chao Phraya river.

Finally, an entirely new concept this year was having Grade 7 be the centerpiece of environmental education in the MS. Students went on various environmental service trips. The goal is to grow these trips into larger service projects now. The trips included:

• TerraCycle: students cleaned waste out of the Ladprao klong and learned how recycling doesn’t work the way people think it does

• iCare: students visited disadvantaged communities to provide food for people in desperate situations

• SOS: students gathered food leftover from hotels and restaurants to feed those in need

• OC Organic Shop: students learned how to reuse and refill many everyday household items from a zero-waste shop in the Nichada community

• OurLand: students learned about elephants, sustainable living, planting trees, and buying land

• Bring The Elephant Home: students studied the human-elephant conflict

• LoveWildlife: students discovered the impact of trash on marine life

• Happy Grocers: students learned about sustainable, regenerative farming and understanding the impact of food choices

High School

The Discover Explore Learn Volunteer Enrich (DELVE) program is designed to give students service experiences that inspire them to become caring global citizens. DELVE aims to create an opportunity for students to have a meaningful and transferable learning experience where we construct understanding by developing and applying knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

This year’s DELVE trips were based in Thailand and ranged anywhere from day trips to weeklong trips. Students engaged in sustainable service and gained awareness of issues that transcend borders. They learned to understand the problems of poverty, indigenous peoples, and environmental degradation and preservation while simultaneously helping people. Students planned and worked together as teams, strengthening their teamwork for the common goal of a greater good.

Some of our most successful 2021-22 DELVE trips were:

• Habitat for Humanity: students spent the week on two house-building sites

• Wildlife Conservation and Service: students worked with local wildlife conservation organizations caring for the animals and comparing components of government-sponsored breeding programs to other conservation centers

• Food & Social Impact: students learned about food security and food poverty in Bangkok and Thailand from community partners and nonprofits working to solve the issue

ISB raised THB 423,209.87 for the 2021-22 school year