From mandatory hours to improving the local community, there are countless reasons for students to seek out service opportunities. At Bellarmine Preparatory School, giving back is integral to the academic and social excellence of the community. Guided by Jesuit principles of caring for the common home and cura personalis, students learn that service is fundamental to developing as well-rounded individuals. Although service is a requirement for graduation, many students are self-motivated when it comes to being involved community members. Their impact goes beyond the school community, extending help and care to the greater Tacoma area.
Click on this link here to see Bellarmine students and their service interests.
Service Club consistently puts together care packages and sandwiches for homeless shelters in the area, which is Brinlee’s favorite way to give back because of the face-to-face connection it offers. She said, “I had stuff in my car so that if I saw someone on the side of the road, I’d hand it to them.”
Brinlee exemplifies the benefits of promoting community service on campus, as it inspires students to take initiative in helping those around them. She summed up this sentiment, saying, “I often find myself [asking] whenever I have extra time ‘Why do I have extra time? I should do something important,’ and service, I think, is a really great way to do that.”
(Natalie Jones)
Service Club is just one of many student-led volunteer initiatives at the school. L’Arche Club is one of the most widely participated-in service clubs on campus. L’Arche Club brings Bellarmine students out to L’Arche Farm and Gardens, a local community that works to advance
the inclusion and rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There, they help care for the farm on which the community members live and profit from to further their advocacy work. Senior Rory O’Reilly, leader of the club, has been volunteering at L’Arche Farms since he was a kid. He said of his long history of service “It was something I was definitely interested in. You feel like you are giving back to the community and people around you.” Service also deepens students’ understanding of the Jesuit values so prevalent in Bellarmine education.
O’Reilly’s experience in service has opened his eyes to the importance of walking with the marginalized and caring for our common home. “Through L’Arche I have learned to appreciate what God has given me. I definitely appreciate being more welcoming to everyone,” he said, “Being blessed with the situation that I’m in and being able to give back to the community is the most important thing to me.”
Cassie Brinlee and Rory O’Reilly are two out of hundreds of Bellarmine students that are paving the way towards a better, more inclusive future through service initiatives. It is evident from the experiences of Brinlee and O’Reilly that volunteering in the community goes beyond basic service hour requirements. From embodying the Jesuit values of their school, to embracing their own power to positively impact their community, the personal impact on student empathy and empowerment is undoubtedly the best part of student service.
