Community service is an integral part of the academic and extra-curricular life at BCDS. In recognition of this achievement, the school received a 2004 Community Service Award from the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE) for “overall excellence in creating and sustaining a developmental service learning curriculum" that mixed direct service with coursework in Social Issues and Social Justice. Forty hours of community service are a graduation requirement in the Upper School; most students exceed the minimum. In 2006, 36 upper school students completed more than 100 hours of service and qualified for Presidential Service Awards. All middle school students particpate in an afternoon of "service learning" once per term (three times a year).

Over the years, the number of school-sponsored community service projects has grown at BCDS, involving large numbers of students both in planning and actual service. Each year ten juniors and seniors are chosen as Community Service Leaders to lead events throughout the year, including the annual Community Service Day, which involves the entire Beaver community.

The Anne Hiatt Center for  Community Service and Social Change
In 2005 BCDS received a seven-figure gift in honor of an alumna to create the Anne Hiatt Center for Community Service and Social Change. The Hiatt Center has six key components: academic integration, community partnerships, leadership training, philanthropy, community service, and academic partnerships. An elective course in social action has been added to the upper school curriculum, and the advisory programs in the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grades focus on building leadership skills and promoting social justice. The Hiatt Center also helps fund community service trips and summer stipends for students performing volunteer service. In 2006 students and faculty travelled to the Gulf Coast, Costa Rica, and Kenya on service trips.

Social Action Day
Each year BCDS students devote an entire day to community service projects and seminars about social issues. Students and faculty work with more than a dozen service organizations throughout Boston. Projects include: outside clean-ups along Boston's Esplanade, the Dudley Street Neighborhood and Hyde Square; agricultural fieldwork at the Food Project, the Heifer Project, and Waltham Fields; flower-planting at the Franklin Park Zoo; and visits to elderly residents at Jewish Community Housing. 

Other opportunities for community service at Beaver include:

--Participation in City Year's Serve-a-Thon and Walk As One
--Drives to benefit adults and children in need
--Community Service Afternoon Activity options in both the Middle and Upper Schools

Contact: Kit Beaudouin '72, Community Service Coordinator
kbeaudouin@bcdschool.org
617-738-2725