What is service learning, and why does it matter? In addition to excelling in the classroom, Winston students make a commitment to serving others while making a difference in the community in which they live. It is the belief of The Winston School that the students’ community involvement contributes significantly to what they learn and enhances their social awareness and citizen contributions for the greater good.
On yesterday, our 5th and 6th grade students spent the afternoon serving and making a difference in the community at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy. Cornerstone Crossroads Academy was founded by Jim and Jane Beckett of Dallas, who saw a need for kids who were lost in "the system" after they volunteered with Hope Literacy in the city's juvenile justice system. The students of Cornerstone are offered a second chance to get their education and are directed toward careers that break them from some of the events of their life, either by their own choice or simply circumstances, and begin them down positive paths. The students helped out all around the Cornerstone campus and served the community in whatever way they were asked.
The students were divided into groups that set up food and served the homeless at Cornerstone Kitchen. Another group folded, sorted and hung clothes in the Clothes Closet, while another group weeded the areas around the school and the building where the students gather to eat lunch and cleaned and organized the building where students from DISD come for aftercare and are fed before they head home that evening. Students and staff completed 4 hours of service before returning to campus feeling inspired and ready to share their volunteer experience. Everyone was really glad to serve their community and loved their volunteer experience! "Our desire for students at The Winston School is to serve the community and to plant the seeds for having servant hearts as they grow and change their own worlds," explained teacher Kathy Cox.
A big thank you to our students for their dedication, their achievements, and their spirit of community!