We would be so pleased to talk to you about some of the amazing service and volunteer opportunities available to you, and help you get involved.
You can stop by the office on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday each week. Our office is located in Crothall, beside the Staff Room. You can also reach us by email (laurie.parker@smus.bc.ca) or by phone at 250-519-7355.
We will be updating this site with new opportunities, as well as sending out a weekly email update. Whether you are interested in working with children, elders, the environment, or people in need, we can find a service project that is meaningful to you.
Service at SMUS
As a school which prepares students for “higher learning and for life” we believe community involvement is a crucial part of a SMUS education. Serving the needs of others is a core tenet of our programme. We work to broaden perspectives, develop leadership skills and character traits in order to create good citizens.
Our aim is to foster a culture of service, citizenship and responsibility and to instill a lifelong commitment to serving others.
SMUS’ goal is to:
- To facilitate age appropriate, meaningful service opportunities for all members of the school body.
- To institute changes which improve the quality of life and the environment in local and global communities.
- To develop short and long term partnerships which are mutually beneficial to SMUS and the community while creating criteria for forming these partnerships while volunteering outside the school community.
- To develop fully integrated service units with connections to academic learning through curricular based activities – a connection between student learning and service through experiential learning.
- To foster and promote Stewardship (internal service) throughout the SMUS community.
Service at SMUS is embedded within all programmes. While it does stand alone in areas such as the Service Council, there is an overall connectedness to the school philosophy, which means that like Leadership and Experiential Learning, Service will bubble up in all aspects of the school. As such there will be ties and overlaps to academic, leadership, environmental, experiential, arts, athletic and outdoor pursuits. Service initiatives are not then reliant on one person but will take the direction of different individuals under the guidance of the Director of School or Service.
The interconnectedness of service and learning provides the foundation for creating citizens who are educated, globally literate, civically minded, aware and socially responsible within all areas of SMUS.
Four common themes and areas of support have developed at SMUS:
- Cancer awareness.
- Local issues (specifically with regard to disadvantaged individuals or groups).
- Regional/international issues (specifically with regard to disadvantaged individuals or groups).
- Service leadership/individual volunteer.
Although broad in scope they provide a framework for decision making regarding types of initiatives that SMUS will engage in throughout the three campuses. Wherever possible, we look for opportunities to provide direct service to individuals or organizations within these themes.
Student interest has been strong in: education, environment, health, the homeless and disadvantaged, children and youth, special needs and multicultural groups. All areas are explored at different depths of involvement (basic to more comprehensive):
- Charity – where we give, often financially, to an individual or group.
- Plunge – where school members immerse themselves in a project, usually for a day.
- Short- & long-term – involvement for a short and/or long period of time.
- Service learning – connection which involves planning, action, reflection and evaluation (based on curricular involvement from various disciplines)