Community Service
"We take care of ourselves, each other, our school, and our community." SIS Motto
Our motto, recited each day at Morning Meeting, is the foundation for a strong school culture that recognizes and honors the importance of caring for others. At SIS, caring is synonymous with action. We learn to value and demonstrate the qualities of integrity, kindness, respect, and empathy.
If we see a classmate struggling to zip his jacket, we help. When someone is unkind to a friend, we stand up for what is right and say something. When we hear about hardship or emergencies in our area or anywhere in the country or the world, we step up to help - by sending toys to California children who lost everything to wildfires, by donating food to the SnacPack program for students whose families experience food insecurity, by collecting clothes for the children of migrant farm workers in Washington County, by planning and cooking a meal for homeless citizens of Saratoga, and much more.
We encourage focused and random acts of kindness within the school community, which build habits of thinking and action that have a positive effect on those within and beyond SIS, now and in the future.
SIS CARES
SIS CARES (Community and Real-world Experiences for Students) is the newest addition to our curriculum. The SIS CARES Program is for students in grades 5 - 8. Every fall, students will attend a Community Day here at school to learn more about the local service organizations in Saratoga County. From there, each student will choose which organization they would like to volunteer at for the remainder of the school year. Three times a year, the students will take a field trip to their organization to volunteer and learn more about that organization. After each volunteer session, students will reflect on their experience in their digital journal and at the end of the year, the students will put together a final project to share their experiences with the rest of the school. Our 8th graders will be required to complete a capstone project to showcase their 4 years of volunteer experience. Our students are excited to have more opportunities to live by our motto: We take care of ourselves, each other, our school, and our community.
This year, students will be volunteering at Franklin Community Center, Saratoga Bridges, Saratoga Senior Center, SNACpack, Skidmore's Tang Museum, and the Children's Museum at Saratoga.