Service-Learning
Community Days
Staff and students at YHS raised over $10,000 this year to support a variety of local, national and international organizations like the Terry Fox Foundation, Greater Vancouver Food Bank, Covenant House, Philippines Typhoon Victims, Project Somos in Guatemala, WaterCan, BC Children’s Hospital and KidSafe.
Service Saturdays
Over 75 students participated in our Service Saturday Program this year, volunteering their time for a variety of causes and organizations ranging from the Wish Drop-in Centre, Pacific Spirit Park, Food Bank and Belkin House to just name a few.
Grade Service Projects
Students continued our tradition of providing Holiday Shoeboxes and Spring Backpacks to youth served by Greater Vancouver Family Services.
Community Partnership Programs
Every week, KidSafe tutors visited our partner school Queen Alexandra Elementary School to help mentor a Grade 6/7 student and provide homework help every Tuesday. Each tutor volunteered over 60 hours this year!
Our Each One Teach One Mentors paired up with girls from a Grade 4/5 class at Admiral Seymour Elementary School. Students visited Saints, YHS and Admiral Seymour and enjoyed arts, crafts, yoga and more. Our mentors volunteered over 25 hours each this year!
Students also volunteered at the YWCA Monroe House, where they assisted children with a variety of activities and gave the children’s Moms a break! Our students volunteered over 20 hours this year!
For more information about the Senior School Service Program, please contact Ms. Hanan Kaddage.
Global Programs
This year, our students visited Australia, England and Mexico as participants in our Grade 9 Exchange Program. We were very excited to host students in return and introduce our visitors to Grade 9 Sea to Sky Camp, our Thanksgiving traditions and of course, Halloween!
Members of our Globe Leaders’ Group were also busy this year, attending weekly club meetings and planning a week of activities and events for International Week in February.
We were also very proud to offer for the first time, the Certificate in Global Leadership to this year’s Grade 12 students who demonstrated outstanding achievement in international citizenship through their course work, international travel and knowledge about a particular world issue. 15 students were presented with certificates at their Graduation ceremony.
Our students travelled to Guatemala during Spring Break and volunteered at Project Somos. It was an amazing experience for all of the students to be on-site when the first 2 families moved into their new homes. We are excited to offer an opportunity for students to travel to Honduras and volunteer at El Hogar during Easter Break of April 4-11, 2015. More details coming soon!
Good-bye
I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of YHS community for the past 12 years. I am very proud of the programs we have developed and very excited about what the future holds as students are poised to further develop and enhance their global competencies. Although it is hard to leave this community of students and parents behind, I am excited to take on a new role as Director of Communications and Marketing at St. John’s School. Happy serving and travelling everyone!
Lynne Stanger
Director of Global Programs & Service Learning