The prophet Micah calls us to "act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God." One of the ways Notre Dame Preparatory School responds to this edict is through its vibrant Community Service Program. Rooted in the mission of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, service activities involve all NDP community members ― from students, faculty and staff to alumnae and families ― directly with marginalized communities in Baltimore and beyond.
Service learning has been a visible tradition at NDP since the 1930s when the Solidarity and Mission Club organized service activities. The current community service requirement for seniors has been in place since 1975, making it the longest-running service requirement curriculum in the region. Community service imbues the lives of NDP students with a host of middle level and upper-level service activities.
A solid foundation of service learning is built on in-house and off-campus projects and reflection experiences that are developmentally appropriate. During their years at NDP, students develop a lifelong attitude toward service. In the Baltimore community, NDP partners with more than 30 different organizations in which students work one-onone with individuals. In one of the newest initiatives, the Refugee Youth Project (RYP), students work with refugee children twice a week at Moravia Park Elementary School in East Baltimore. There the girls build relationships with children in kindergarten through fifth grade, helping them with homework, tutoring them in English and, most enjoyably, playing with them. The students describe this experience as transformative on countless levels: “You learn how important patience and a soft voice are,” says Meghan Stewart ’14, who has worked with RYP for three years. “It makes me want to be a more positive person. When I leave RYP, I have a smile on my face.” In addition to extensive service in and around the Baltimore area, NDP sponsors trips which allow students to engage in more intensive service experiences.
For instance, students travel to Virginia during the summer months and to Mississippi during Holy Week to work for Habitat for Humanity. Since the 1980s, NDP has fostered a sistercommunity relationship with the residents of Ignacio Ellacuria in El Salvador. Thanks to financial support, NDP has helped this school community grow and has sponsored the education of several residents of Ignacio. Through NDP’s newest service trip, students and teachers travel to Costa Rica to work at the Sloth Sanctuary and learn more about the rain forest and the importance of this habitat on climate. The Costa Rica trip ties directly to justice work, NDP’s Green School status and the SSND imperative to steward creation. It is also notable that NDP is the only high school to participate in the Costa Rica and Mississippi efforts.
Invaluable Lesson
Whether it is travel to the other side of town or travel to another continent, the service experience of Notre Dame Prep students teaches a common invaluable lesson: It is not what one does in service but how one is changed by the experience. As recent graduate Jane Lorenzi explains, “The relationships I have formed, the humanity I have witnessed, and the imprints I have on my heart continually draw me back to volunteering.”
