Service by Year

Overview

Service by Year

Resources

Students can access all Service and Justice resources in their grade-level Service and Justice Google Classroom Page. Resources available there include: 

Reminders

  • As of October 22, 2020, we are again able to support students in choosing in-person service. If this policy needs to change given changes in public health guidance, we will notify students through Google Classroom, and update posts in the Weekly Update email and the website. 
  • Students are still able to complete their Service and Justice requirement through remote opportunities.  Specific approved activities and agencies are available for students in the Service and Justice Google Classroom page, and here. Students are also welcome to propose their own project for review and approval. 

Philosophy 

Jesuit facilitates service and justice work in the community throughout the student’s tenure at JHS. Through programming coordinated by the Office of Service and Justice, students are guided into direct service with our neighbors who experience acute need or some form of marginalization. Students are invited to serve with people experiencing chronic hunger, with children in under-resourced schools, with young adults living with developmental delays, with people living in homelessness, with elderly adults in assisted living centers, and with agencies responding to, as Pope Francis states in Laudato Si, “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” Students are also invited into the work of faith-based advocacy for justice. 

Service is an active response to our faith; a faith that is inspired by and pursues the example of Jesus by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and inviting the outcast into friendship. In doing this we are able to grow closer to God and all of God’s beloved creation. In giving ourselves away we receive more than we could ever imagine.

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Service Requirement by Class Year
Service & Justice Requirements

Freshman

Waivers

Parent waivers with service placements will go out at the beginning of each semester through the Theology 1 class. 

Program structure

In the past, freshmen have struggled with knowing where and how to set up service, feeling anxious about showing up at a service site on their own, and managing the general overwhelm of the freshman year.  The Day of Service seeks to mitigate some of these obstacles by offering the freshmen a structured experience of service in community with their classmates and teachers at respected service agencies in the community. Since its implementation, 100% of Freshmen have successfully completed their service requirement. 

The Day of Service is an excused, co-curricular absence that does not impact a student’s eligibility for co-curriculars later in the same day, and participation is required. 

After completing three hours of service with his class, each student is responsible for completing an additional three hours (minimum) of service with an agency that puts students in direct contact with people dealing with hunger, homelessness, poverty, physical or developmental disability, or isolation due to old age or illness. 

Deadlines

This service requirement is due by the end of the semester in which the student is enrolled in Theology 1. A list of pre-approved agencies is available in the Freshman Service and Justice Google Classroom, and students are welcome to propose other agencies that are not listed. 

No service is required in the semester during which the student is NOT enrolled in Theology 1, though all students are welcome to do service beyond the required minimum at any point and track that service.

Sophomore & Juniors

Program Objectives

The Office of Service and Justice programming is designed to form students as men for and with others.

Program structure

  • Creates opportunities for students to experience solidarity with people who are poor and marginalized;
  • Encourages students to attend to and understand the needs of the created world;
  • Supports students in the development of habits of reflection and skills of social analysis that help them work for social change;
  • Assists students in connecting their lives of faith, Catholic Social teaching, and the needs of the communities of which they are a part.

Specific Goals

Service as an educational vehicle for heightened awareness of injustice in the world, compassion toward others, and living the Jesuit value of being men “for and with others.”

Students can now engage in in-person service activities at pre-approved agencies where students are welcomed by the agency as volunteers. When engaging in in-person service, students should utilize all Covid-19 mitigation practices at their disposal and follow all safety protocols required at their chosen service placement. Select virtual and remote opportunities are also available.

Deadlines

Sophomores (Class of 2027)
  • End of 1st Quarter: October 11, 2024 - 4 hours of service 
  • End of 2nd: December 20, 2024 - 8 hours of service
  • End of 3rd: March 7, 2025 - 12 hours of service
  • End of 4th: May 9, 2025 - 16 hours of service
Juniors (Class of 2026)
  • End of 1st Quarter: October 11, 2024 - 5 hours of service 
  • End of 2nd: December 20, 2024 - 10 hours of service
  • End of 3rd: March 7, 2025 - 15 hours of service
  • End of 4th: May 10, 2025 - 20 hours of service

Senior

Seniors opt into one of three tracks: Immersion, Independent Study, or one semester of the Period 4 Service class. Each track has its own internal deadlines and requirements, communicated to students through Google Classroom.

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Important Updates to Senior Service & Justice
Requirement Restored for Class of 2024

Jesuit High School’s Office of Service and Justice forms students as men for and with others, at the service of the wider mission of Jesuit High School and the Church. The many dimensions of our program support students in their growth in the Profile of the Graduate at Graduation: students who are open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice. Having been able to restore programming for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in this new phase of the pandemic, we are now able to re-establish service expectations at the senior level, beginning with the Class of 2024. 

  • Students complete a minimum of 30 hours of direct service with one agency
  • Pass/Fail graduation requirement (not a letter grade)
  • Completed by the end of Quarter 3 of senior year*