Annual Day of Caring- 17th year!
University School of the Lowcountry took part in the Trident United Way’s Day of Caring on November 22; this was our 17th consecutive year of participating. We contributed 700+ hours of service to our community! This national effort powerfully resonates in the Charleston area: the TUW has traditionally had some of the largest number of projects and volunteers among all United Way chapters over the last 20 years. COVID impacted this service program and volunteering nationwide, and we are proud to be part of building it back.
University School students, faculty, parents, alumni, and alumni parents helped with service projects at 13 non-profits and underserved public schools across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties. Creating and maintaining long-term relationships with organizations, schools, and people all over the tri-county area enables us all to better understand, work with, and help each other.
All of our students in our grades 3-12 school contribute 50+ hours of service to the community each year—during regular school days. We value empathy and active citizenship, and schools demonstrate what they are committed to by what they spend time on. Although there are additional opportunities like this on the weekends, we integrate community service into our regular weekday program. Learning at a school that honors helping others and where students and teachers regularly assist others together makes this normal. It also enables them to see firsthand all of the valuable work that our public schools and non-profits are doing. This approach yields good and compassionate adults who will help others and uplift their communities on their personal journey through life.
Please enjoy this slideshow from the day!
There was much to be proud of, and since returning we have been sharing stories among the participants. Everyone had new experiences, did things we’ve never done before, and made a real difference in others’ lives. We are grateful to everyone in our community who made this day possible!
USL Traditions: Cookie Baking & Delivering
Each academic year, at the start of the semester, it is a beloved annual tradition to take part in cookie baking and delivering to our local neighbors along Coleman Blvd. We have done this for years, and its roots stem back to a summer activity in June 2007 before we opened our doors!
Students will bake cookies, deliver them, and clean up the kitchen. This will allow students to gain practice with the responsibility inherent to LOTCs, engage in some random acts of kindness, improve in small talk, and meet our neighbors around Coleman Blvd. and other parts of Mount Pleasant. It is also a terrific time for relationship-building.
Impacting community through service and stewardship
University School believes in developing active and informed citizens who will uplift the world around them. USL students contribute 50+ hours of service to the community with their teachers (and some parents) during the school day each year.
Since March 2020, USL has held over 160 weekend distributions to families-in-need in neighborhoods in N. Charleston and near us. Community members donate books/toys/shelf-stable food/paper products/clothes. This is part of the commitment the school made to our long-standing friends in North Charleston (Midland Park Primary, Pinehurst Elementary, Stall High School, etc.) when schools closed for the pandemic.
This month there are two annual events to help these families. Could you help? Details are below.
(1) Annual “Stuff the Bus” event
– Thursday, August 8 (3:30-5:00 PM) at Maybank Green in I’On
– For the Green Hill and Snowden communities in Mount Pleasant
– We partner with the I’On neighborhood to do this and ask them to donate school supplies and shelf-stable food.
(2) Our Annual School Supplies Distribution for our friends in North Charleston
– Saturday, 8/10 (8:00-10:00 AM)
– Alston Arms and Driftwood Apartments off Stall Road
– We’ll gather at USL first and load our vehicles before heading to North Charleston
– For this event, please consider bringing (1) a bag of shelf-stable food and (2) a bag of school supplies – paper, notebooks, tape, markers, pencils, etc.
– You can bring these items to school any day.
Please check the family Sign-Up Genius to assist (we need 3 families per distribution).
Thank you for your consideration and support of these community service projects!
North Charleston Community Service
Since March 2020, we have been helping our friends in various North Charleston communities through a series of ongoing weekend service events. The program supports Charleston County School District students and families from Midland Park Elementary School, Pinehurst Elementary School, Stall High School, Deer Park Middle School, and Ladson Elementary School, providing a variety of much-needed items such as shelf-stable food, baby items, books, toys, and more.
Two weekends each month, University School students spend time sorting and organizing donated items for these kind community members, packing them in boxes and loading them onto our buses. In addition to support from our students, this program is possible because of the kindness of others in our school community. Take a look at our Wish List to see if there are items you might be able to donate to this very good cause!
Campus Cleanup
Each year, as we head into Winter Break, University School students work together to help clean up Hibben’s campus. Activities like our campus cleanup allow our students the opportunity to understand that helping others is important.
Service Gift Wrapping
In support of our ongoing COVID service program, we’ll head to Winter Break as students spend time together wrapping presents to give to our friends in the program.
For more on this ongoing service initiative, read about our Community Service efforts.
Annual Day of Caring
Every year, Trident United Way coordinates Days of Caring, a community-wide service initiative where volunteer groups offer assistance to area nonprofits. University School of the Lowcountry has participated in Days of Caring for over 15 years. This demonstration of learning in action has become a hallmark Learning Outside the Classroom experience for University School students.
YALLFest Guest Speaker: Maggie Tokuda-Hall
YALLFest is a public two-day annual young adult book festival in Charleston, South Carolina that is the largest of its kind in the South. Because of one of our teachers, Sara Peck, is a long-time organizer of this unique event, we get especially excited about this special event for fans of young adult literature.
Today, our students will enjoy a special guest speaker as part of YALLFest, author Maggie Tokuda Hall, author of The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, and its sequel, The Siren, the Song, and the Spy. For more on Maggie, you may visit her website.
To learn more about YALLFest and see the event schedule, visit the event website.
