The Volunteer Experience

Why Participate?

Phillips Academy volunteers come to our program from a variety of backgrounds and with varying interests in community service.  Some students bring their passion for working with a specific population, such as working with children, animals, or the elderly, while others are looking for a fun extra-curricular activity or something new to try.  Still, others are looking for meaningful engagement in dialogue and action related to international development or for a way to meet new people and experience a new community. 

Regardless of a student's background, level of experience or area of interest, there is a Phillips Academy community service project for them.  Each year students from all four classes who participate in our programs meet new people, become engaged in the world outside of Phillips Academy, and provide much needed and appreciated assistance to over 30 nonprofit community partners.   

The Commitment

Involvement in Phillips Academy's Community Service Program has only one requirement: commitment. Once a volunteer agrees to participate in a project, he or she is expected to fulfill this commitment like any other obligation on campus. Each project involves an agency that depends on volunteers, whether tutoring a child, preparing a meal, supervising a field trip or constructing part of a house. Our volunteers are needed to make their operations run smoothly; in fact, some projects rely solely on Phillips Academy volunteers to function at all.

The experiential learning cycle: Orientation/Training, Experience & Reflection

Orientation: 

The community service program welcomes all new volunteers to our ongoing volunteer projects with an orientation session at the beginning of each term.  All new volunteers are required to attend.  In addition to our general sessions, students will typically participate in an on-site orientation session run by the volunteer supervisor at their site.  Student Coordinators lead many of our programs and serve as an additional guide and resource for new volunteers.

Experience: 

The volunteer experience varies drastically from student to student based simply on the variety of programs that they can choose to participate in.  Though the day-to-day experiences of a student who is tutoring at an after school program will vary from those of a student who is paired with an elderly person for weekly buddy sessions, our program strives to maintain a consistently high standard across all of our programs. 

As with any endeavor, consistent and steady work provides the best learning opportunities for the participant, the most productive worker for the agency, and the optimal context for meaningful relationships to develop. These are the goals of Phillips Academy's Community Service Program, and we expect our volunteers to commit to them.

Reflection: 

Through our community service faculty and student leaders, we are able to engage volunteers in reflective interaction surrounding their experiences as a volunteer.    This component of the Phillips Academy Community Service Program provides a forum for participants to share questions, challenges, and successes experienced while working in the community.  It is an essential element of the service-learning experience.  Through discussion and written reflection, students are afforded the opportunities to gain personal insight as well as a better understanding of the context in which their community work takes place.

Program coordinators and student coordinators of specific projects invite community service volunteers to join them in a wide array of reflection activities. These include, but are not limited to, regular intensive discussion groups led by student coordinators and/or faculty members, facilitated reflection discussions at service sites with agency staff and community members, and more informal gatherings sponsored by the Community Service Program involving some combination of food, discussion, guest speakers, or a movie.

Supervision and Evaluation

Our students receive supervision from Phillips Academy faculty members and on-site volunteer supervisors.  Most of our off-campus volunteers work directly with an organization's volunteer coordinator.  On-campus volunteer endeavors are supervised by Phillips Academy faculty volunteers. 

Continual evaluation of our program and our student volunteers, helps us maintain a our high standard of programming.  At the end of each term community service sites are invited to evaluate our program and our students.  At this time, we also invite volunteers to evaluate their community service experience so we are able to constantly improve our program.

Most student evaluation is informal, coming throughout the term from agency supervisors, faculty coordinators and peers. However, weekly volunteers receive written community service reports from their agency supervisors or faculty coordinators at the end of the term. These reports are sent to the student, his or her parent(s) and the student's house counselor or day student adviser. They are then placed in the student's permanent file.
Depending on the project, students may be asked to complete periodic evaluations of their service experience. All participants are encouraged to share their experience with other students and adults on campus for additional feedback, encouragement and perspective.

Student Leadership

Student leadership is one of the basic foundations of the Phillips Academy Community Service Program.  Each year 25 student coordinators take on the responsibility of leading our volunteer programs.  These students coordinate after school tutoring sessions, a girls empowerment program, youth science clubs, elderly buddy programs, adult citizenship tutoring, special needs buddy pairings, and youth literacy initiatives.  A list of all of our student-coordinated programs can be found here.   

Community Service Student Coordinators leadership development program includes regular meetings with a faculty mentor, an overnight community service retreat at the beginning of the school year, and ongoing group training sessions throughout the year. 

The Community Engagement Council is made up of eight Student Coordinators who are charged with bringing a greater awareness of social issues and community service to the PA student community at large.  Each year these students meet regularly to tackle this challenge creatively and innovatively.  Past events and initiatives have included: the screening of documentary films, a community service "party" to benefit social awareness clubs on campus and featured student bands and local food vendors, a panel on immigration, and a "Non Sibi" book display in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library.