Lyndhurst Campus Service Highlights

Below are some of the service learning activities experienced recently by students in our Lower and Middle Schools:

• Sixth graders recently participated in an experiential, interdisciplinary unit that helped them understand how the distribution of wealth affects the living standards of families. After watching the film “Thirty Days on Minimum Wage,” Director of Interfaith Hospitality Network Sarah Cruise engaged students in s budgeting activity in which students were asked to break down the calculated food budget to cost per meal. They then traveled to a local food market in “families” of three or four and used their limited resources to purchase the most nutritious lunch items they could find. Upon their return to campus, students wrote written reflections and shared their menus and their perspectives on the limitations imposed by minimum wage income.

• Seventh graders in the history and documentation Cultural Garden Group have been exploring the history of Cleveland in order to gain an understanding of the context within which the Cultural Gardens were established. One particularly enjoyable aspect of the service project was working with a professor and two graduate students from CSU to update the Cultural Garden website. After investigating and analyzing one garden, they create a script which they then recorded for the audio blog. These blogs are currently in the editing phase and will soon be “live” on the website.

• Students in all three first grade classes recently collected donations for West Side Catholic Center, which, among other things, houses 32 women and children as they move from homelessness to stable housing and employment. On the morning of March 4th, first graders carried their bags to the Hawken van for delivery to the Center.

• The Lyndhurst campus also sponsored its fourth annual Hawken Family Service Day on Sunday, February 27, welcoming students and families to socialize with classmates and friends while crafting fleece blankets for homeless children.