Service Starts at Home 136 (50%) of La Salle College High School’s Rising Juniors Participate in Urban Immersion
6/25/13 — Many high school students will be on the beach relaxing this summer. Others may travel far and wide nationally and internationally on service trips. However, four groups of La Salle College High School students, faculty, and staff will spend a week making a difference in our community. 136 rising juniors will participate in one of four trips the week of May 26 to May 31, June 2- 7, June 9- 14, and July 21- 26, 2013. This represents approximately 50% of their class. What makes this impressive is that La Salle does not have a mandatory service requirement!
The Philadelphia Urban Immersion is a unique opportunity for students to live in community and work at various social service organizations in the city. Students will encounter the poor in soup kitchens, schools, churches, or on the streets. Students will have the opportunity to participate in homeless outreach, work at Project H.O.M.E. (West Philly), St. John’s Hospice (Center City), Sarnelli House (Kensington), St. Lucy School for the Hearing & Visually Impaired, Holy Innocents Parish (Juniata), Habitat for Humanity (various locations), Bethesda Project (various locations) as well as other agencies. On Memorial Day, a group will honor our Veterans at the VA Community Living Center. The project is based on the principles of the Lasallian Service Corp which are faith, service, and community.
During each trip, approximately 38 students and 5 faculty chaperones will sleep on the floor at the Saint Peter Claver Center at 12th and Lombard in Center City Philadelphia. Highlights include:
- Each participant will volunteer 4 days at a social service agency and spend one night on street outreach. On Outreach, students will share food, drink, clothes, and friendship with those on the streets.
- Participants will tour the National Liberty Museum (2nd and Chestnut), which educates visitors about the importance good citizenship. In addition, John Delaney, Deputy District Attorney of Philadelphia will speak to the group about the Juvenile Justice System and the steps the city is taking to keep adolescents out of the system.
- Participants will plan and participate in morning and evening reflection sessions. They will be encouraged to apply their experiences to their life.
- Participants will take SEPTA or walk to all service sites and activities.
- Participants will blog about their daily experiences each night of the immersion. These blogs can be found at www.lschs.org/summerservice.
For more information, contact Lew Clark (clarkL@lschs.org), La Salle College High School’s Director of Campus Ministry.