Service Learning

What is Service Learning?

Lancaster Mennonite believes that community and school service are important parts of a holistic, well-rounded education. At Lancaster Mennonite, students at every age are provided with opportunities to get involved with the local community and to put their faith into practice.

Elementary

At the elementary level, students have the opportunity to take part in service and mission projects throughout the school year.

Recent projects include:

  • Presenting a Christmas music recital to seniors at Willow Valley Communities
  • Collecting food and hygiene materials for local nonprofits such as Lancaster County Food Hub and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
  • Writing thank you notes to Mennonite Disaster Service’s first responders, custodians, and other important members of the community
  • Decorating bags for Meals on Wheels deliveries
  • Collecting used toys for the Boro Bazaar Velveteen Rabbit Twice-Loved Toy Shoppe as part of a fundraiser for refugee families
  • Collecting coins for MCC’s “My Coins Count” program

Middle School

Middle school student have the opportunity to take part in service and mission projects throughout the school year at a local organization or for the benefit of the campus community.

Recent projects include:

  • Archiving at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society
  • Planting an acre of trees along the Millstream with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
  • Tutoring elementary students
  • Campus clean-up projects

High School

Students at the high school also have the opportunity to serve both the local and the global community, whether through student clubs such as the Green Team, International Students Association (ISA), or through school-sponsored service activities. Juniors and Seniors embark on mini-courses, many of which include a service component, while Freshmen and Sophomores hold Experience weeks with a planned service day among the festivities.

Recent projects include:

  • During this year’s annual Senior Service Day, high school seniors volunteered at 9 different local nonprofits, namely CAP (Community Action Partnership), Friendship Community, Material Resource Center, Black Rock Retreat, Eastern Mennonite Missions, Blessings of Hope, Landis Homes, Parkesburg Point, Woodcrest Retreat, The Factory Ministries, and Brethren Village.
  • The Green Team student environmental action club worked with local foresters and The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to plant an acre of trees along the Millstream to improve the riparian buffer and watershed improvements.
  • As part of the Spring 2023 Mini-course program, students travelled to Spain, Mexico, Jamaica, Germany, the Grand Canyon, Philadelphia, backpacked the Appalachian Trail, experienced theatres in three cities, and explored historic adventures in Pennsylvania to name a few – learn more.