Community Service Brochure

St. Mark’s Community Service Program

2023–2024 School Year

Important Dates

2023–2024 School Year

Clothing Drive .........................

5 – 19

Candy Drive ..............................

Feast of Sharing .............................

1 – 7

11

13 – 16 Gift Drive ..........................

McDonald’s Week .......................

Coat Drive ..............................

8 – 12

Habitat Build Days ........... Jan. 13,20,27 and Feb. 3,17

Blood Drive ................................ Feb. 21

US Spring Basket Drive .................. March 4 – 25

MS Spring Basket Drive .................. March 7 – 21

AUSTIN STREET DINNERS

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023

February 2024 TBD

April 2024 TBD

COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS DEADLINES:

Summer Hours : ............................

Sept. 5

5 Hours: ................................... Oct. 9

5 Hours : .................................. Feb. 5

5 Hours: ................................... April 8

President’s Service Award: May 1

COMMUNITY-ENGAGED LEARNING

St. Mark’s develops the habit of community involvement to awaken concern for those coping with hardship and to instill a lifelong commitment to service and advocacy. A meaningful program of mandatory community service will raise social awareness, develop the ability to communicate respectfully with all individuals, and teach sound leadership values and skills.

St. Mark’s distinguishes between community service and charity by emphasizing the educational, person-to-person nature of community service. Such service enables our students to play a beneficial role in the Dallas community, as well as in agencies serving special needs within the city. Students acquire knowledge and deepen understanding of their community through presentation of experts, direct observation and personal experience.

Upper School students are required to complete 15 hours of service per school year from August 21 to May 31. A minimum of five hours is required by Oct. 9. Five more are required by Feb. 5 (for a total of 10) and the last five by April 8 (for a total of 15 hours). A student may choose to submit his 15-hour requirement early in the year to accommodate his schedule. Middle School students will participate in a class project in the fall or the spring.

Since the goal of the program is to foster empathy, develop an appreciation for a broad range of backgrounds and experiences, and to encourage students to step out of their traditional daily interactions, students will not receive community service credit hours for service at St. Mark’s, a private camp, church, synagogue, mosque, music/dance school etc. unless they are directly involved in outreach through their organization with prior approval from the Community Service o ce.

REQUIREMENTS

• Grades 5-8: Participation in projects organized by the Middle School Community Service coordinators.

• Grades 9-12: Fifteen hours of service per school year. From August 21 to May 31.

• The year is divided into three periods. A minimum of five hours is due by Oct. 9, 2023. Five more hours are due by Feb. 5, 2024, and the last five hours are due by April 8, 2024. Students may choose to complete and submit all 15 hours earlier than the due dates according to their own schedules.

• Students are reminded that community service is external to the School. Therefore, most service opportunities will occur after school hours or on weekends.

• Because the goal of this program is to open up new horizons, students will not receive community service credit for volunteering at St. Mark’s, a private camp, church, mosque, synagogue, temple, music/dance/riding school, sports clinics etc. unless they are involved in service outreach through that organization. Service must reach those outside the organization membership and into the community, such as the Brendan Court ’06 Summer Enrichment Program carried out at school after hours and during the summer.

• Eagle Scout projects may be used to claim service hours, but only the portion involving direct work with the beneficiaries of the project count. Planning, traveling hours etc. do not count. Boys may recruit friends and classmates.

• Professional internship hours do not qualify as service hours unless students are reaching out to a specific community and receive prior approval.

• St. Mark’s is a certifying organization for the National President’s Service Award. The School orders awards for the students who qualify at the end of each school year. All hours count toward the award, including summer hours. Awards are given based on age category as determined by the organization. May 1 is the last day to submit hours for the Service Award.

• Some projects and events are shared with The Hockaday School.

All hours are submitted through MobileServe.com. Students may sign up for projects o ered by the Community Service program via the MobileServe app. Students must request pre-approval for personal projects to ensure qualification. Students must keep a record of the community service projects they attend on their own. Getting hours approved involves these major steps:

• Entering the number of hours (the actual service hours at the event plus one hour for transportation).

• Describing their service. Which community did you serve? Which service did you provide?

• Using MobileServe, students may verify hours by providing a contact email/ signature from the organization, a photograph, or geolocation. Two of these methods of verification are required for approval by the CS o ce.

• Checking the “Honor Principle” box.

HOURS DUE

Service requirements to be fulfilled between Aug. 21, 2023 and May 31, 2024

2023–2024 Due Dates:

Sept. 5

2023 Summer Hours

Oct. 9

Five hours minimum due

Feb. 5

Five hours due for a total of 10 hours

April 8

Last five hours due for a total of 15 hours

May 1

Hours due for President’s Service Award

May 31

Final day to enter hours for the current school year

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

HOMELESSNESS

Austin Street Center

The Stewpot

EDUCATION

Beacon Hill Tutoring

Chess For Humanity

Pershing Elementary School

United To Learn

Wesley Rankin

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Community Partners of Dallas

Feast of Sharing

Foster Kids Charity of Dallas

Genesis Shelter

Genesis Thrift Shop

Habitat for Humanity

Music Healing

North Dallas Shared Ministries

North Texas Food Bank

Rays of Light

St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store

The Jubilee Center

The Salvation Army

West Dallas Community Center

ENVIRONMENT

For The Love of the Lake

Joppa Farm

Texas Tree Foundation

Backyard Bird Project

THE BRENDAN COURT ’06 SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM

The St. Mark’s Brendan Court ’06 Summer Enrichment Program is a three-week, tuition-free enrichment program for DISD Middle School boys who want to enhance their knowledge in literature, math, science and social studies. In addition, students are exposed to workshops on computer programming, STEM-related topics, art projects, literature and poetry. The program provides the opportunity to meet guests who share their expertise and leadership in the DFW area.

Students participating in the program also go on field trips that are both fun and educational.The goal of the program is not only to provide educational opportunities for middle school students, but also to allow St. Mark’s students to explore teaching.

DATES TO KEEP IN MIND

Sept. 8 : Teaching positions announced

Nov. 3 : Deadline to apply for a teaching position

Nov. 6-10 : Interviews

Dec. 4 : Positions announced

June. 4-21 : Summer Program Dates

COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD

BOARD MEMBERS

SENIORS

Ethan Bosita

Ethan Gao

Arnav Lahoti

Raja Mehendale

Vivek Patel

Rishi Rai

James Sutherland

JUNIORS

Carson Bosita

Maddox Canham

Jack Frary

Chris Han

Akul Mittal

William Morrow

Arjun Poi

Hilton Sampson

Daniel Sun

Mateo Ubiñas

Andrew Xuan

Max Yan

SOPHOMORES

Weston Chance

Reagan Graeme

Rohan Kakkar

Aryaman Lahoti

Andrew Liu

Benjamin Standefer

Ronen Verma

Kayden Zhong FRESHMEN

Cristian Duarte

Andrew Hofmann

Dylan Macktinger

Jack Shepro

MIDDLE SCHOOL CO-CHAIRS

Alex Marczewski

Will Thomson

JAMES SUTHERLAND & ANDREW XUAN Co-Chairs

ETHAN BOSITA Vice-Chair

JORGE CORREA

Director of Community Service | 214-346-8220 | correaj@smtexas.org

ISABEL CISNEROS

Assistant Director of Community Service | 214-346-8309 | cisnerosi@smtexas.org

LAUREN LOGAN

Middle School Coordinator | 214-346-8236 | loganl@smtexas.org

GREG CROOK

Middle School Coordinator | 214-346-8344 | crookg@smtexas.org

DR. KATHERINE ANSON

Co-Director of the Brendan Court ’06 Summer Program 214-346-8438 | ansonk@smtexas.org

Questions?

SMCommunityService@smtexas.org www.smtexas.org/communityservice

DID YOU KNOW?

More than 15,000 volunteer hours were approved in 2022–2023.

The economic value of of service provided in 2022-2023 was over $372,000.

2023-2024 will mark our 17th year in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and students will be working on our 18th house in West Dallas.

29 Upper School students received the President’s Service Gold Award last year.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men for assuming leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world. To this end, the school professes and upholds certain values. These values include the discipline of postponing immediate gratification in the interest of earning eventual, hard-won satisfaction; the responsibility of defending one’s own ideas, of respecting the views of others and of accepting the consequences for one’s own actions; and an appreciation for the lively connection between knowledge and responsibility, privilege and the obligation to serve.