DoSomething.org is the largest U.S. organization for teens and social change. A few years ago, they released results from the first comprehensive national survey of teens and volunteering. Their work revealed the #1 factor driving volunteering for this age group is having friends who volunteer. Also, reported in their data is the fact that students in private high schools were 25 percent more likely to volunteer than those in public schools.
Harley Upper School Students volunteering in Rochester, NY
The culture at our school emphasizes empathy and civic engagement. Our upper school students have a 20 hour guideline for community service each year (though many exceed this) and they can be found all around the area lending their time and talent to organizations such as: Foodlink, the Jewish Home, Horizons at Harley, Challenger Baseball, Rochester City Ballet, WAYO-FM, Cameron Community Ministries and many more.
We recognize their efforts at an honors assembly each spring, presenting each student who completed 100 hours or more of community service during the previous year. This year there were thirty-three honorees.
In our class of 2017, nearly half of the students were documented volunteers; in the class of 2016 our teens clocked 7,980 hours!
These individuals are the future and we are so proud of them.
Learn more about our Upper School here.
