Community Service
Community Service is an important part of the Rock Point School curriculum and all students are required to participate. Community Service opportunities are varied and manifold and often take place right on Rock Point property. The goal behind such activities is to promote a sense of stewardship, community responsibility, and joy in helping others both in and out of the school community.
Rock Point School students participate in six Community Service activities over the school year. Three of these take place on the property helping the property manager with seasonal tasks - preparing for the sugaring season, cleaning up after the snow melts, cutting and stacking wood - and the remaining three are part of larger community ventures. In the fall the students 'Hike for Hunger' on a sponsored hike up a local mountain to raise money for the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. On Martin Luther King Day, the whole school participates in the community wide service projects in Burlington and then joins together with all the other volunteers to celebrate with a dinner that they themselves have helped to cook. In the late Spring, the students join in with the Postal Carriers Food Drive, sorting and packing food at the local food shelf. Throughout the year there are other service opportunities that arise organically from student interest fertilized by our culture of service. For
example the students have raised money for Episcopal Relief and Development, participated in planning community events for young people, raised money to purchase $10 stoves for families in need in developing nations.
Cultural Service Learning Week
In February the students participate in Cultural Service Learning Week. During this 10 day period, the students have the opportunity to travel internationally, participate in a Habitat for Humanity project somewhere in the United States, or to stay at school and pursue various community service and learning opportunities in the local community. Additional costs are associated with international and national travel. The point of this extended period of extra curricular learning is to expand the students' experiences of other peoples' lives and their own lives in relation. The school firmly believes in the doctrine of caring for others and the essential part that this plays in caring for oneself. In previous years, students have traveled to Japan, England, Cambodia, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. They have also participated in service projects for Habitat for Humanity in West Virginia and Philadelphia.
