Skip To Main Content

 

Community Service

Service is one of the primary ways in which we draw explicit connections between the classroom and the wider world. An excellent lens for understanding equity and injustice, it provides the chance for our students, faculty and staff to give back to the region that supports us so generously. Service also encourages our students to develop a wider, more complex sense of community through direct action.

Middle School

Our Middle School Community Service program offers a chance for our students to deepen their personal understanding of the purpose and value of offering one’s time and talents for the benefit of others. Our program helps them discover ways in which they can build relevant, personally-meaningful service experiences into their own lives.

Sixth and seventh graders participate in a series of Community presentations, self-discovery and advocacy workshops, small-scale service projects, and panel discussions with representatives from local organizations; eighth grade students also have the opportunity to select an off-campus service opportunity, in preparation for their participation in the Upper School program.

Upper School

Our Upper School Community Service program specifically asks students to engage with nonprofit organizations helping right here in greater Seattle. From the center of our beautiful campus, it can be easy to think that hunger, homelessness, or ecological damage only happen far away, but we want our students to understand otherwise and be a part of the solution right here at home.

Program Details:
  • Student organizations: Members of the Students of Service club organize frequent service events where students can explore a variety of experiences, have fun with peers, and earn service hours.
  • Community Time: Sessions throughout the year are dedicated to speakers and presenters, workshops, and other topics related to helping students develop meaningful, personally-relevant relationships with local service organizations.
  • Graduation requirement: Upper School students must complete twenty hours of approved community service each year. Hours are earned independently working for approved organizations providing direct service to our local community.

Current Students: Check the Veracross Student Portal for detailed community service information or contact Diversity & Community Program Manager Patrick King at pking@universityprep.org.


A few examples of our diverse service projects include:

    • Assisting food bank clients at North Helpline and Ballard Food Bank
    • Sorting and packaging thousands of pounds of bulk food with Northwest Harvest
    • Restoring public bike trails at Duthie Park with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance
    • Providing social interactions for women and children living without secure housing at Mary’s Place
    • Singing, dancing, and leading movement activities with elders at Sunrise of Northgate and Foss Home and Village
    • Making quilts and chew toys for animals at Seattle Humane Society
    • Repairing and restoring bicycles for donation to BikeWorks