The Paideia School

The Great Giveback

On November 22, Paideia’s High School participated in its second annual Great Give Back, a day of community building designed to contribute to a culture of care. During the Great Give Back, students participated in service projects around Paideia’s campus, as well as in our surrounding Druid Hills neighborhood, embracing Paideia’s framework of values: social responsibility, commitment to an environmental view, excellence and hard work, and empathy.

Great Giveback


Not a spot on campus was left unattended or ignored. Director of Civic Engagement Natalie Rogovin worked closely with Paideia’s facilities team to identify needs on campus and intentionally assign High School advisory groups to execute these projects. Working together as an advisory allowed the groups to grow closer together and foster a sense of teamwork. 

Throughout Paideia’s campus and stretching into the neighboring park, Olmstead Linear Park, Paideia students could be seen raking up leaves and carrying orange buckets of mulch. Maintaining our campus is an important part of our shared ownership of our school. Head of School Tom Taylor shared his belief that “through the investment of our time and resources, we take greater responsibility for our campus and our community.”

Great Giveback
Great Giveback

While many of these areas of campus are regularly maintained by our facilities team, the Great Give Back provided students with an enhanced understanding of the work required to keep our school clean, beautiful and safe. Coach Eddie Johnson’s advisory group raked the Elementary School Amphitheater outside of Python Hall, which is often used for outdoor learning. “I think it's important for the students to understand the benefit of keeping things that you love clean,” shared Eddie. 

Whether scrubbing the Paideia School sign on the corner of S. Ponce, wiping down cabinets in the faculty lounge or mopping the floors of the High School commons, keeping our campus clean contributes to a comfortable and welcoming learning environment. The Great Give Back projects also connected students to different levels of school, faculty and staff, and each other. Rand Wise's advisory group helped Kaela and Isaiah's Elementary class with the Intown Cares food drive. Students worked together to sort cans in the library to distribute to the food bank. Several advisory groups drove to Paideia Farm to assist the Urban Agriculture team with projects. In Tally Johnson’s advisory group, students wrote ‘Thank You’ notes to their teacher. “Teachers are our future more than our students. If there are no teachers, there is no future,” said junior Emmanuele Gray. Spending time together as an advisory, entertaining one another as they worked, left students feeling closer to each other.

Great Giveback


The participation of students in the Great Give Back reinforces the values of our community. It is an important reminder to students that as members of a community, we are all responsible for taking care of our campus and each other. One student from Beth Schild's advisory summed it up when she shared, "the important part of the Give Back is that students are giving back what the campus gives us, and that this is not only important for the physical campus but it's also important for the community.”