Summer at Speyer
Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.
A Life of Mind and Heart
In our philosophy, we seek to foster a healthy mind with a heart that overflows in service. We believe it is our human obligation to share and thus, the nurturing of compassion, charity and activism is important to the helping our students to become involved citizens of an increasingly global community.
From Kindergarten onward through Middle School, Speyer students are provided with numerous outlets for the altruism that often arises from their heightened awareness of need and concern for others.
From annual school-based initiatives and PA-sponsored drives to spontaneous responses to natural disasters, the heartbeat of compassion translated into action holds a central place in our philosophy.
Staples Food Drive
The Staples Food Drive is held every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas to replenish the supplies of local food pantries.
Before departing for Thanksgiving break, students and families are provided with a wish list of needed food staples. Bins are then placed in the lobby to collect items. The students then pack and deliver the items to local food pantries during the month of December.
The annual Change for Change initiative is inspired by the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and focuses on the small actions that can bring about significant change in the immediate community and in the wider world. The dual definition of “change” as coins as well as a transformative process comes into play as our students eagerly watch the accumulation of the contributions they bring in over the course of one month.
The initiative concludes on Classmate Appreciation Day (our appropriation of Valentine’s Day) with a check presented to the founders of the Caroline Wambui Mungai Foundation in support of our sister school and orphanage in Wangige, Kenya.
While our younger students connect strongly to this initiative with their emphasis of becoming “agents of change” in their immediate surroundings, this is a school-wide project of long standing.
InSpeyered Elective
Many cultural messages sent out to our young people emphasize personal success, and not much concern for others. In Inspeyered, students collaborate with the Parents’ Association, Speyer Kindergarten and PS 111 to work towards meaningful change, and make a difference in our local community. Inspeyered students also collaborate with the Social Action Club to raise awareness on a number of social issues.
This year, students will work on building literacy and math programs for PS 111.
Social Action Club
Created by one of our eighth grade students, the Social Action Club meets to identify and discuss issues within our community-at-large, and to create a plan of action to remedy those issues.
In the past, students have engaged in meaningful and impactful acts of service such as volunteering at a nearby soup kitchen to combat homelessness in New York City and writing letters to senators and the New York Public Library, thanking them for their service.
Through the Social Action Club, students learn about leadership, the importance of community engagement, and how to get involved in issues that matter to them.