Community Service & Service Learning

From its founding in 1970, Tandem students and faculty have participated in community service. John Howard, one of the founders of Tandem, describes making toys for the children at the Salvation Army shelter as one of the first Tandem service projects.

When Tandem became a Friends school in 1995, that original spirit of service was re-affirmed and encouraged by the Quaker testimony of service as a value in life. Service at Tandem has never been reduced to a certain number of hours or to a particular graduation requirement. It is part of life in and outside the classroom. Service finds many expressions.

In the Upper School there are four days set aside for students and faculty to participate together in service. Each day ends with time for discussion and silent reflection on the experience.

In Middle and Upper School, service learning is an integral part of the Tandem curriculum. Based on classroom learning, students and teachers turn lessons from class into action in the community. Grasses were planted in the James River to improve water quality. French was taken to a public school's after-school program. A lesson on the immune system translated into health kits for AIDS orphans in Africa. Apples were picked, pies were baked, and money was used to feed hungry people at a shelter. Music and drama were taken to the elderly. Cookies and jewelry were sold for funds to aid victims of the Tsunami.

Most grades also do a “Service Trip.” This two to four-day event combines community-building time as a class, subject area education, and actual service in the larger community. Tandem is led by Quaker organizations in Washington and New York that give students experience in large city social agencies that serve the homeless and the poor.

Finally, Emphasis Week is a Tandem tradition in which regular school stops for a week and teachers and students spend the entire time in an alternative learning experience. A significant number of Emphasis offerings are service oriented. Students have built houses for Habitat, performed hurricane relief in Mississippi, worked on Native American reservations, hosted the PACEM homeless shelter in Charlottesville, worked with the homeless in Washington and New York, and had numbers of other service experiences.

An upper school student helps in a soup kitchen in NYC.

Tandem's director of community service, David Slezak, can be reached any time for questions and discussion of the community service program.

Education in Service has always been an important part of the Tandem Friends School program. Throughout their years at Tandem, students explore the many ways to help their community be a better place. Their concerns extend from the local to the global.

The following is a partial list of the organizations Tandem students were involved with last year: the Salvation Army; Unicef; Emergency Food Bank; African Feeding Link; St. Jude's Hospital; Jefferson Area Board on Aging; Amnesty International; the International Rescue Committee; tutoring/reading at nearby elementary schools; Meals On Wheels; ABC Daycare; the SPCA; the Shelter for Help in Emergency; Habitat for Humanity; homeless shelters in DC and NYC; Christian Children's Fund; Pennies for Peace; Books for Prisoners; Charlottesville Albemarle Riding Therapy; Relay for Life; Code Pink; International Red Cross; IMPACT; holiday food baskets for local needy families; Darfur aid; Camp Holiday Trails; Camp Albemarle; and, the Rivanna Trail Foundation.