In this section...
Community Service Learning / Civic Action
In the course of the year, Beacon Academy students will participate in several community service projects that are related to their academic curriculum. Civic action is an important component of the overall program, because it helps students develop a commitment to social responsibility and active citizenship. As they participate in community service projects, they discover how individuals can make a difference. They are encouraged to reflect on their experience and to develop skills of advocacy, both oral and written. Community service enhances and reinforces classroom learning and provides a needed service to the community. Relating academics to real-life experiences encourages students to appreciate the commonalities of the human condition, while fostering compassion, responsibility, and a lifelong commitment to service. Since social and environmental change starts at the individual level, service learning empowers students to find ways to connect and grow with a larger world.
Class of 2010 volunteers in Timberland's Servapalooza
On Thursday, October 8th, Beacon Academy students participated in The Timberland Company’s Annual Servapalooza Day for our 5th year in a row.
We spent the day volunteering at YMCA’s Camp Tricklin Falls in East Kingston, New Hampshire, cleaning up the grounds and building a ropes course. The children that will attend the camp next summer are from the Haverhill/Lawrence area and, for most of them, this will be their first experience in the woods, kayaking, swimming in a river, and much more. Our service efforts will definitely help to make another child’s outdoor experience magical. Additionally, our service and team building experience was pretty inspirational as well!
Afterwards, we headed to the Timberland Post-Palooza party at headquarters where Beacon students continued to have fun with the other volunteers.
And finally, to end the day, we visited Cristina Hughes, Class of 2007, who is in her junior year at Philips Exeter. Cristina was one of Beacon's strongest students and has clearly continued to thrive and grow at Exeter. She has an obvious love of learning that has lead her to participate in a number of different extracurricular activities at Exeter that range from the school newspaper to water polo. Cristina led our current class on an extensive tour of the Exeter campus, sharing with the students fascinating information about the school and her experience there so far. It was thrilling to see a Beacon alum succeeding so fully at a high-powered, demanding secondary school.
Art Room Cleanup
Timberland Servapalooza Day
