Ask the Experts: Importance of Community Service

Why is community service an important part of a grade school curriculum?

A: “Being that we are a Catholic school, service, empathy and compassion are an important goal for our school. Making sure kids understand not just what’s going on at home but also more about the needs of our community is really important,” says Elizabeth Andrachik, lower school principal at St. Angela Merici Parish School. “We do a lot of outreach to our community — from O’Neill Healthcare Center and Fairview Park Senior Center to Fairview Hospital, where children might be in the hospital during the holidays — just to help gain that perspective from kindergarten to eighth-grade. We always have service projects within all of our grade levels. It prepares them for high school with the mentality that we are here to do good for others in this world just like Christ did for us.”