Latin’s Upper School reinstated its mandatory community service requirement for students this year after a three-year hiatus during the pandemic, where service was encouraged but not required.
Led by Director of Student Life Tim Cronister and Upper School Director Nick Baer, the new policy requires students to complete at least four hours of off-campus service, with the option to complete an additional four hours either on campus or off campus. This policy aims to ensure that students are taking the initiative to find service outside of school while also engaging with Latin’s community.
“Pre-pandemic, [the service requirement] was 40 hours for sophomores, but that was too onerous,” Mr. Cronister said. “Then, [it changed to] 20 hours for 10th graders and 10 hours for 9th graders.”
The pre-pandemic goal of the service program remains the same post-pandemic: instilling empathy in students by exposing them to communities different from their own. Additionally, Mr. Cronister implemented Latin’s mission statement into the way he designed the new requirement: helping kids find their individual passions and leading lives of purpose and excellence.
There are three elements to community service at Latin: “Awareness, action, and empathy,” Mr. Cronister said. “I make sure when we do a project there is some level of education. The empathy part is a little harder.” Without seeing another person’s experience firsthand, Mr. Cronister believes it can be hard to find empathy.
Mr. Cronister said he hopes the decrease in required community service hours versus the pre-COVID era will be more digestible for students than the previous system, as well as for the faculty in charge of tracking service hours.
Mr. Cronister, Upper School Performing Arts teacher Frances Limoncelli, and Upper School advisers will all work together to help students track their service through an electronic form. However, without a staff position dedicated to individually checking students’ service hours, the reporting system runs on an honor policy.
This new honor system creates a sense of ownership within students while completing their service, and many view the reinstatement of the requirement positively. “I think it’s great that they brought it back because it’s great to get involved with your community, and when you think about it, eight hours over the course of the year is not a lot,” junior Ava Nelson said.
On the other hand, some students have concerns about the rationale behind the mandatory service hours. “If you want to do something for your community, it has to come out of you, and not out of someone else telling you to do it,” sophomore Martin Testai said.
Acknowledging that the system is a work in progress, Mr. Cronister said he welcomes student feedback. He added that he hopes students don’t see the requirement as a restriction, but as an opportunity to find a passion while helping others.
Overall, the general sentiment among students toward the new requirements is positive. Mr. Cronister said, “[I’m] pretty excited about where [the service requirement] will go, but it’s the terminology that needs to be worked on.”
While students have until the end of the school year to complete their eight-hour requirement, they had their first opportunity to officially record their service hours so far during the advisory block on October 16 via Google form.
Mr. Cronister said he hopes to see evidence of service not only during students’ time at Latin but also in a lasting effect throughout their lives.
“I know [students] are the change-makers of the world,” Mr. Cronister said. “If I can have a positive influence on you guys, I’m hoping it will rub off and you’ll make good choices helping others when you can.”
