Program Philosophy: Community Service cannot be an “add-on” to the curriculum or an occasional special project. It must be integral and constant. To be effective, Community Service must be infused throughout the curriculum and the school in many ways and with many models. It is not a separate class or a separate endeavor, and it is not labeled; Community Service is beyond an act of doing, it is a way of being.

Our program uses Appreciation, Advocacy, and Action as guiding principles:

• In grades 1 and 2, children focus on gaining better understanding of classmates and how personal needs relate to a person's ability to help others.
• In grades 3 and 4, children focus on service projects related to the entire school community, weighing the needs of entire communities alongside the needs of targeted groups.
• In grades 5 and 6, children focus on the needs of the surrounding neighborhood of Remington (where our building is located) and our city of Baltimore as a whole.
• In grades 7 and 8, as students prepare to travel internationally, they embrace global service as a focus.

Specific attributes of the program include, but are not limited to: Community Day, Classroom Projects, the Explorations curriculum, Cultural Studies and the International Program, the Parent Co-Operative, the Apprenticeship program, our Habits course, and specially designed Student Service Learning Projects.