Student-Led Impact Through the St. John’s Community Service Program

Thanks to the community service program at St. John’s, there is never a lack of opportunities to get involved.

Though there is no requirement for service hours at St. John's, the vast majority of students choose to participate in some form of service throughout their high school years. They often do so through student-initiated and student-led projects, which, according to Upper School Service Learning Coordinator Claire Nuchtern, is the centerpiece of the community service program at St. John’s.

These projects range from Fuzzy Friends, which consists of making stuffed animals for patients at Memorial Hermann Hospital, to Girls4STEM, where St. John’s students introduce girls in underrepresented communities to fun science experiments and projects.

The longest running program at the School is Summer Express, founded in 2008. Students spend two weeks of their summer break working with refugee students, tutoring them in the morning and taking field trips around Houston in the afternoon.

Another staple project is Slammin’ Sandwiches, where students meet every Thursday before school to make PB&J sandwiches for Second Servings Houston. Nuchtern, who graduated from St. John’s in 2011, founded the project when she was a student.

“The craziest thing for me is coming back and seeing how it's still very successful,” Nuchtern said.

Other unique features of the community service program include class-wide projects. For example, sophomores recently painted a mural at River Oaks Hospital and Clinic on 3/22. Additionally, St. John’s founded a full-time service learning class last year, where students spend the week studying immigration and Guatemalan history and volunteer with young students who have recently arrived to the US from Guatemala on the weekends.

“I love that community service provides opportunities for students to see other parts of Houston and build an ongoing relationship with different parts of our community,” Nuchtern said. “Especially in our service learning class, seeing our students who are not taking the class anymore but still want to go back and see the kids is really exciting to me.”

At the backbone of the St. John’s community service program is the student-run CommServe Board, which consists of three committees made up of about a dozen officers each. Officer Bella Dodig is on the Committee of Education and Outreach, which informs the student body about service opportunities through forums and lunch-and-learns. For example, they hosted a forum last semester on how to increase sustainability when shopping and consuming clothing.

“I like the people and the great sense of camaraderie that we have,” Dodig said. “It’s amazing to see behind the scenes of planning all these events that bring our community together.”