Finding Passion In Community Outreach — Grade 8 Service Learning

Service Learning has been a core aspect of the Grade 7 and 8 program at Greenwood, involving students in various community outreach activities and teaching valuable life skills. For the Grade 8s, Service Learning also serves as the foundation for the provincial community service hours they will complete throughout their high school careers. The culmination of the Grade 8’s Service Learning sessions is the “Finding Your Niche Lab”, in which students expand upon their found passions for community outreach through projects focused on one of the 11 community organizations introduced to them during Service Learning this year.

On Wednesday, April 1, Grade 11 and 12 students in the Equity and Social Justice class hosted two workshops helping the Grade 8s with their Niche labs and the connection of activism and community service. These workshops encouraged students to identify large-scale issues and how they can use their existing talents and skills to bring about change. One workshop, hosted by Nisha Malhotra ‘27, Ella Roland ‘27 and Abby Weston ‘26, tasked students to make one aspect of Greenwood better using only $1,000. With solutions like rabbit therapy sessions to address student mental health and additional innovative construction methods to help with the Greenspace development, there was no shortage of inventive ideas to help Greenwood’s community.

In the other workshop, hosted by Coulter Kimel ‘26, Amelia Oliver ‘26 and Ava Petrucci ‘26, students were asked to identify their own “superpower” and think about the ways they can address social change with it. For their workshop activity, the Grade 8s chose a societal issue and wrote down their ideas on bringing about social change on a “Change Card”. 

The workshops were a fulsome experience for the Grade 8s and Equity and Social Justice class alike, furthering the conversation on how students can get involved with community issues that may seem daunting to take on alone. With the Grade 8s Niche Labs fully underway, there are many more opportunities for students to hone their skills and find new ways to support their local communities.