By Rebecca Miller, ’12, Contributor
This year, CCDS saw an explosion in community service projects, from Get Buzzed About Malaria Prevention to Unified for UNIFAT. At the beginning of the school year, Dean of Service Learning Deborah Floyd gave an assembly encouraging the US to renew its dedication to community service. Students seemed to take the assembly’s message to heart. The worry now is whether CCDS can keep so many service projects going without overwhelming the community and creating burnout.
After the Haitian earthquake, CCDS students sprung into action. Jules Cantor, ’11, organized “Hoops for Haiti,” a knock-out contest after the Feb. 12 boys basketball game versus Summit. As sign-ups were underway for the contest, Student Council was pitching the Dunk for LLS game and Breakthrough Cincinnati was running a school supplies drive. With so much going on, it was easy for events to be pushed out of focus and into the background. Ms. Floyd organized a service calendar on which service groups can sign up for days when they can pitch their ideas. The concept has been well-received by the community.
“I think Ms. Floyd’s service calendar is a really great idea because it makes sure that only one thing is going on at a time,” said Kate Taylor, ’11.
“As a community, I think we need to work to organize these efforts—I think that Ms. Floyd’s service calendar is a great idea,” said Allison Lazarus, ’10.
Many students feel that there are so many community service options going on, it is easy to forget things.
“I do feel that the concentration of community service drives is too high. It seems as if every time I turn around there is a new effort beginning,” said Lazarus.
Taylor agreed, explaining that “with so much going…on it’s hard to remember what is happening when.”
However, Michael Barton, ’13, added that he “feel[s] that one must find something that they like to do, and stick with it.”
Ms. Floyd agreed saying “The culture of service is alive and thriving at Country Day … there’s no fatigue or burnout.”
Ms. Floyd said that “student-organized initiatives that overlap are the best kind of problems to have.”
The biggest worry for some members of the community is that different projects will not get the attention they need because they overlap with others. Floyd said she hopes the new solution will provide an easier way to make sure that no valuable initiative is overlooked.
Photo by Ilana Habib, ’11.