Quick Links
Service Programs
St. John Vianney High School is committed to practicing the Characteristics of Marianist Education, which include our dedication to educating our students for a commitment to service, justice and peace. Pope Paul VI said, “if you want peace work for justice.” We in the Vianney Family believe that in order to bring social and economic justice to the world, we must first teach our students the value of serving the less fortunate as Jesus did. Through our service we can bring justice to those forgotten by society, and then, by creating a more just society, we will create a more peaceful world.
We also coordinate the Student Service Learning Program that requires each freshman and sophomore student to perform 20 hours of community service each year. Juniors have a two-week release time at the end of May for direct service to those in need. Service Immersion Trips are offered during spring break or summer. Recent trips have included Jamaica, Appalachia, New Orleans and Mexico.
Junior Social Service Project
During a student’s junior year, he participates in the Junior Social Service Project (SSP). The largest component of the SSP is the two-week service immersion experience in which the juniors spend the final two weeks of May doing five full days of service work each week at agencies to which they are assigned by the Campus Ministry staff. This is not the only component, though. The SSP is a year-long program that includes a service-learning curriculum integrated into both the student’s Junior Religion/Morality Class and the Junior Retreat. Also, throughout his two-week immersion experience, the student is required to keep a daily journal of his reflections on his experience. This journal is submitted to the Campus Ministry on the final day of the two-week program and must be judged as “adequate” for both the reflection and length requirements. Failure to complete any component of the SSP will result in a failing grade for the student’s Senior year “Christian Service” academic credit.
During the service-learning component of the SSP, students will be asked to reflect upon which populations they feel called to serve, be it the young, the elderly, the poor, the infirmed, or the physically or mentally disabled. Students will then be asked to submit their top choices for populations to the Campus Ministry and also their top choices for regional locations (West County, St. Louis City, etc.) The Campus Ministry staff will then place the students at their service sites, trying as best they can to accommodate the students’ choices, but primarily trying to provide the students with a good service experience.
Students are almost always placed with other Griffins at their sites, and while at their sites, their groups are visited at least twice by a faculty member who will discuss their service with them and help facilitate growth in the students’ understanding of the Marianist ideals of service, justice and peace.
Freshman and Sophomore SERVICE
Freshmen and Sophomores are required to perform twenty hours of service each year. The students may choose to do all twenty of their hours with one recognized service agency, or they may choose to divide their service hours between multiple agencies. If the students wish, five of their hours may be done in their local communities (parish, school, or neighborhood). While the students are encouraged to do extra service to their local communities and they may submit them for recognition of excessive service, only five local hours will count towards the initial twenty required hours. Because the purpose of these required service hours is to educate for the Characteristic of Marianist Education “Service, Justice and Peace,” a minimum of fifteen of the students’ required hours must be done outside of their local communities. Those fifteen hours must be performed to assist a population with which the students do not interact in their daily lives—a population that is truly in need of God’s justice. By witnessing the needs of their fellow citizens, the students build an understanding of the plight of the working poor and of the need for the justice for all people, especially those about whom Jesus spoke when he preached, “What you do the least of my people, so you do unto me.” (Mt 25:45) Through their service the students experience building the Kingdom of God on Earth.
For their service hours, we recommend that Freshmen and Sophomores do their service with service agencies that assist forgotten populations, including, but not restricted to:
- Young children through a daycare, a camp, a library or a tutoring program
- The elderly through a community center or an assisted living facility
- The poor through a soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless shelter, urban beautification project, or community relief organization
- The physically or mentally challenged through a special school or an after-school activities program
- The sick or infirmed through a hospital, nursing home, long-term care home or a hospice
There are any number of options! By no means is this list exhaustive or restrictive. It is merely a place to start. Students should find a place and a population that inspires them to want to help. Students are encouraged to call any of the types of agencies listed above and to ask to speak to the agency’s volunteer coordinator or to speak to Mr. Dailey or Ms. Fitzpatrick if they are having trouble finding placement for their service project. There is a link on this page to agencies at which Griffins have performed their service in the past with lists of site volunteer coordinators.
Service hours must be recorded and submitted to the Campus Ministry on Social Service Project forms by the first day of school for the next academic year, which is to say that freshmen must have their hours submitted by the beginning of their sophomore year, and sophomores by the beginning of their junior year. Failure to comply with this policy will result in detentions, the inability to participate in any co-curriculars, and a failing grade for the “Christian Service” academic credit.
