PACT - Paideia and the Community Together

Part of a larger, school-wide initiative designed to strengthen the Framework of Values of Empathy, Social Responsibility and Development of Ethical Self through regionally based opportunities. PACT supports the community-stewardship ethic and deepens learning through volunteerism and civic engagement by working with regional community partners to support their services and programs.

Guiding the PACT program is a commitment to social justice. Social justice at Paideia involves recognizing the inequalities in our communities, challenging injustices, valuing diversity, and ensuring equal access to liberties and rights.

Service Learning at Paideia aims to provide students volunteering experiences that act as a call to action so that they may build communities of action, bringing both leadership and vision back to Paideia.

Volunteering gives our students the chance to create the kind of community and world in which they want to live. It gives them the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves and use civic responsibility for the greater good. 

Goals of the Program

• strengthen the community stewardship ethic
• deepen learning through volunteerism and civic involvement
• provide the opportunity to investigate pressing issues of social justice
• recognize the inequalities in our communities, challenge injustices, value diversity, and ensure equal access to liberties and rights

Alternative Break Programs

In the high school students are offered two opportunities a year to participate in a service learning intensive, where a group of students are selected to immerse themselves in an issue through action, education and travel.  While most trips occur regionally, for example understanding the experience of refugees in America through an overnight trip to Clarkston, Ga., other trips have included New Orleans, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

Graduation Requirement

Each high school student is asked to do sustained work with two nonprofits that address an issue(s) in the community. Interning with two separate organizations allows for comparative experiences and the opportunity to see different aspects of an issue. Additionally, in order to fully begin to understand an issue, it is necessary to spend a consistent and sustained period of time working within the community that it affects.

• The service requirements needed for graduation are two complete internships with separate nonprofits that must have a 501(c)3 status.
• For something to be considered an internship it must meet the minimum requirement of 30 hours of service at a nonprofit.
• One of those internships may be completed with an on-campus program: Urban Agriculture, Cross Age Teaching, Library Intern, Lab Assistant and Tech Crew.
• Once a student has completed both internships, they must write one reflection.
• Students cannot work directly for a family member. They may work with an organization affiliated with their family but must be supervised by a non-family member.