Important Dates
2024–2025 School Year
Clothing Drive .......................... Sept. 9 – 20
US Food Drive ...................... Sept. 30 – Oct. 14
MS Food Drive Oct. 3 – 17
Candy Drive .............................. Nov. 1 – 7
Feast of Sharing .............................. Nov. 8
McDonald’s Week ....................... Nov. 18 – 21
Gift Drive ........................... Dec. 3 – Dec. 18
Coat Drive ............................. Jan. 13 – 17
Blood Drive ................................ Feb. 12
MS Spring Basket Drive ............. March 27 – April 10
US Spring Basket Drive ............. March 31 – April 14
AUSTIN STREET DINNERS
Thursday, Oct. 10 2024
Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025
Thursday, April 3, 2025
COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS DEADLINES:
2024 Summer Hours : ........................ Sept. 6
5 Hours: .................................. Oct. 15
5 Hours : ................................. Jan. 21
5 Hours: ................................... April 7
President’s Service Award: .................... April 30
Final day to enter hours for the current school year is April 30.
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 Aug. 26 to April 30. A minimum of five hours is required by Oct. 15. Five more are required by Jan. 21 (for a total of 10) and the last five by April 7 (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 office.
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 Aug. 26 to April 30.
• The year is divided into three periods. A minimum of five hours is required by Oct. 15, 2024. Five more are required by Jan. 21, 2025, and the last five hours are due by April 7 (for a total of 15 hours). 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 Volunteer 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. April 30 is the last day to submit hours for the Service Award.
• Some projects and events are shared with The Hockaday School.
MOBILESERVE.COM
All hours are submitted through MobileServe.com. Students may sign up for projects offered 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 office.
• Checking the “Honor Principle” box.
HOURS DUE
Service requirements to be fulfilled between Aug. 26, 2024 and April 30, 2025
2024–2025 Due Dates:
Sept. 6
2024 Summer Hours
Oct. 15
Five hours minimum due
Jan. 21
Five hours due for a total of 10 hours
April 7
Last five hours due for a total of 15 hours
April 30
Hours due for President’s Volunteer Service Award
April 30
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. 9: Teaching and volunteer positions announced
Nov. 8: Deadline to apply for a teaching/volunteer position
Nov. 11-15: Interviews
Dec. 3-6: Teaching demonstrations
Dec. 13: Positions announced
June 9-27: Program dates
COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD
ANDREW XUAN ’25
Chair
MADDOX CANHAM ’25 & WILLIAM MORROW ’25
Vice-Chairs
BENJAMIN STANDEFER ’26
Junior Vice-Chair
BOARD MEMBERS
SENIORS
Carson Bosita
William Everitt
Jack Frary
Chris Han
Akul Mittal
Arjun Poi
Hilton Sampson
Daniel Sun
Mateo Ubinas
Max Yan
JUNIORS
Ekaksh Bansal
Weston Chance
Reagan Graeme
William Kozoman
Aryaman Lahoti
Andrew Liu
Ariyan Mishra
Aamir Tinwala
Ronen Verma
Kayden Zhong
SOPHOMORES
Dylan Bosita
Cristian Duarte
Andrew Hofmann
Max Lee
Dylan Macktinger
Sean Madine
Emiliano Mayo
Sam Morse
Asher Ridzinski
Jack Shepro
FRESHMEN
Dexter Canham
Nicholas Petrikas
Will Thomson
MIDDLE SCHOOL CO-CHAIRS
Osi Akudo
Brennan Bosita
Sawyer Song
FACULTY
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 18,000 volunteer hours were approved in 2023–2024.
The economic value of of service provided in 2023–2024 was over $488,000.
Upper School students partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build our 18th house this past year.
33 Upper School students received the President’s Volunteer Service Gold Award last year.
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.
