Viewpoint School is dedicated to the education of its students' hearts as well as their minds. We strive to develop both intelligence and conscience. Volunteering on and off campus helps students to explore their particular talents and skills and to learn from others with experiences different from their own.
Goals of the program include:
- To teach the value of compassion and caring.
- To learn how to put ideas into action.
- To become more aware of society's needs and of an individual's civic responsibility.
- To learn how one individual can be important to others.
- To gain personal experience and skills.
- To build self-esteem and self-reliance.
The School seeks to instill a spirit of community service within our youngest children in Primary and Lower Schools through age-appropriate activities on campus. Students have sponsored and participated in activities that have supported such organizations as the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Meals on Wheels, Toys for Tots, Saving the Rainforest and Coral Reef, the Library Lady, Wildlife on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, Guide Dogs of America, Children Helping Poor and Homeless People, and Gifts From the Heart. The Student Action Committee provides students with the opportunity to practice leadership skills while performing activities on Viewpoint's campus. Some of their responsibilities include walking Kindergarteners from carpool to their classes, participating in projects that help beautify the Primary and Lower School's grounds, raising funds for charities by sponsoring ice cream sundae and bake sales, and collecting items for The Love and Care and Help the Babies Foundation. The discussions and lessons that correspond with these activities enable our youngest students to understand the needs of others while learning to contribute to their community.
Community Service in Middle School
Middle School students are actively involved in community service both on and off campus. Each year the students of Middle School select one community organization that they collectively support throughout the year. For example, the Middle School Student Council raised funds to support Greenpeace, the Braille Institute, the Westside Children's Center, Casa Pacifica, and the Nature Conservancy's Adopt-an-Acre program. In addition, each grade chooses a community service project to support. In the past, Sixth Graders raised money for the LIBRI Foundation, which provides new library books to schools and communities that are unable to purchase them. Seventh graders worked with children from Activities for Retarded Children (ARC) as part of their course in decision-making. Eighth Graders traditionally complete a full semester of service by assisting faculty and staff for one period a week in offices and classrooms.
Community Service in Upper School
Viewpoint believes that students benefit most from service to others when they give their commitment and energies for an extended period of time, develop their own skills, forge relationships with others, and become acquainted with the rewards of helping others. Each year the School offers 15 to 20 group projects, with the expectation that each Ninth Grader participates in at least one project. Each student in Tenth Grade through Twelfth Grade commit to the completion of at least 45 hours of community service through participation in school-sponsored projects or in an individual placement with the help of the Director of Community Service. Many students' contributions of service are truly extraordinary, completing far more than the minimum number of hours.
Some examples of previous service projects include:
- Assisting with a restoration project at a botanical garden.
- Caroling at local hospitals.
- Cleaning beaches.
- Assisting with the Special Olympics.
- Creating and participating in "Curious About Science," a program that mentors girls in science.
- Painting a shelter for battered women.
- Preparing food and sorting clothing for the homeless.
- Reading to children at a homeless shelter.
- Replanting trees in areas devastated by fires.
- Restoring the natural terrain by eliminating non-native plants.
- Teaching physically and developmentally disabled children to ride horses.
- Walking to raise money in AIDSWalk Los Angeles.
- Organizing "Vaudeville": A night of entertainment to raise money for Free Arts for Abused Children.
- Planning a party at Ujima Village, a low-income housing project in Magic Johnson Park.
- Delivering food to the homeless in West Hollywood and Venice Beach through the program Food on Foot.
- Preparing meals for the children and adults at the Ronald McDonald House.
Please log in to myViewpoint to access the Community Service calendar, downloads, and more.
