A recent update to the school’s Service Learning Program was intended to make the service requirement clearer. Instead, it has left students unsure of how it works and questioning the values it promotes.

The new Upper School (US) Service Learning Program was created by the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Global Education (DEIG) department and was rolled out to students throughout October. The junior class was the first to learn of this program, receiving an email from Associate Director of DEIG and US Service Learning Coordinator Patty Dei at the start of the month. The program introduces a new point system in which students earn points by completing Canvas assignments — which include creating videos, slideshows and written reflections — and doing community service volunteering either through the school or with an external program. The point system is outlined in a document Mr. Dei shared with students in his email.

“Every student’s service learning work is tracked through a points system,” the document states. “To graduate, students need 34 points total: 28 earned through the required grade-level assignments described above and six earned through additional service of their choosing.”

However, US Service Learning Coordinator and Latin Teacher Nicole Wellington said the requirement is actually only 28 points, and the mention of six additional points was incorrect.

“I didn’t know that the requirement was sent out like that because we had revised that part,” she said. “I do apologize because that information did come out incorrectly, because it was an idea we had kind of thrown around.”

Once the requirement is corrected, a student who completes the service learning assignments each year will reach 28 points by the end of their senior year. Extra service is encouraged but not required, Ms. Wellington said.

The new point system has led some students to believe the service requirement’s workload is increasing, but according to Ms. Wellington, it is the same as before.

“Nothing has changed since last year,” she said. “We’ve just quantified everything because it seemed like, from student feedback, that felt like something more tangible to grasp.”

Jack Reinfeld ’27 said students’ general confusion around the new requirement is partly due to the school’s method of explaining it.

“In the past, the requirement was clearly communicated … but now it’s really vague,” he said. “They say, ‘join the Canvas page, and I’ll tell you what to do.’ But once you’re in the Canvas page, it’s not really too concise or too straightforward.”

This revision to the Service Learning Program is the latest in a series of changes. About two years ago, the school shifted from a system that required students to complete 40 hours of community service by graduation to a broader service learning curriculum. The Vanguard covered this change in a 2025 article (See Volume 53, Issue 7: “New service requirement implemented for juniors”) and interviewed Mr. Dei about the rationale behind the decision.

“The hours-based approach often encouraged students to focus on logging time rather than fostering a genuine connection with the communities they served,” Mr. Dei said in an email at the time. “This transactional mindset diminished the depth of the service experience.”

Now, Rishaan Chowdhury ’29 worries that the newest policy reintroduces that transactional mindset.

“If someone knows they have to make six points just to graduate … maybe they’ll work really hard and make all their points, but they’re not doing it for the right reasons,” he said. “I don’t know once they graduate, whether they would continue to do community service.”

Rishaan said the service requirement does not clearly explain how to earn the points.

“It’s complicated enough that people who are motivated don’t actually understand it,” he said. “I actually care about community service, and I think a lot of my classmates do too. But I don’t think half of them would understand what this requirement is. I don’t understand what it means.”

While there has been no sign that the school has any intentions of bringing back an hours-based requirement, Tess Lessig ’28 hopes they will consider it. As a sophomore, she participated in Season of Service — an afternoon community service program that replaces a season of sports — which shaped her perspective that hands-on volunteering is more impactful than completing assignments within the school.

“It sounds better to me because you really have to pick something and just go do it for that amount of time,” she said. “And at most schools, it’s a significant amount of time, and so … it’s going to be impactful.”

She wants the focus of the Service Learning Program to be on the actual service and not on completing assignments in Canvas.

“Half of the students are just using ChatGPT to make the slideshow,” she said, referring to one of the service learning assignments that the sophomores complete. “If the school wants us to do impactful service, make an hours-based service requirement. Instead of having us balance a point system, just have us go do the service. Getting hours in is what has truly impacted me the most.”

US Director Jessica Keimowitz sees the research and reflection assignments as important parts of the Service Learning Program.

“It’s one thing to go, ‘I went to a food pantry, and I stacked cans for two hours,’ but it’s another to have to reflect on: What did I learn from this experience? What impact do I think I had? Would I want to do it again? Would I not want to do it again?” she said. “That self-reflection may not impact anyone outside of the school, but it’s part of what the switch is from community service to service learning. We do want that learning component to be an integral part.”

Another important focus of the Service Learning Program is giving students agency to incorporate their personal interests into the curriculum, Mr. Dei said.

“People are saying, ‘oh, I have to go and do work at Catie’s Closet, and I have to go and do this,’” he said. “Service learning is not about that. Service learning is about taking what you’re passionate about, taking the skills that you have, taking what is near and taking issues that are important to you, and finding that little cranny where you can make some change.”

Regardless of the exact service requirement, Board of Trustees member and US parent Pam Baker P ’23 ’25 ’28 appreciates that the school prioritizes community service and has a Service Learning Program.

“I think community service is a critical part of a student’s development and that understanding of how to offer yourself in the service of others is both an obligation and a privilege,” she said. “My older kids both had the opportunity to work with organizations that they continued with over the course of their high school careers, and those experiences helped shape some of their long-term interests.”

While students, faculty and parents broadly agree on the need for a service requirement, the best way to structure such a program remains controversial.