Grotonians will soon have another chance to exemplify our school motto. The first Community Day of Service in 2016 will take place on Saturday, May 14.

The Day of Service, as usual, will be organized by the Groton Community Engagement (GCE) and will be an all-school event. Although the community has already had a Day of Service last fall, there will be some changes taking place.

The greatest difference from the fall, according to Groton’s Director of Community Engagement Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge, will be the entire school’s engagement in community service on the same day. Last fall, Fifth and Sixth Formers had their Day of Service prior to the rest of the school. This spring, however, all students are simultaneously serving the community on one day.

There will also be a wider range of activities to choose from: fifteen sites “ranging from retirement homes to outdoor beautification projects to fundraisers for healthcare services and an animal shelter,” said Mr. Freeman-Coppadge. “We’ve got two new activities in Lowell, and one large group going to a community garden in Grafton!”

Most of the activities will take place in the morning, but there will be a few taking place in the afternoon as well. Students will pick their preferences for activities online and then get their assigned activity for the day.

GCE will make every effort to accommodate student preferences when it comes to assigning sites. However, this does not guarantee that every student will get the site they prefer most. “But, in the spirit of service, our neighbors’ needs come first,” said Mr. Freeman-Coppadge. “If students are sent to a site that wasn’t their first choice, I ask them to open themselves to this new and unexpected experience. If we’re open to the world, we are primed to benefit from it.”

GCE board members have expressed their excitement for this first Day of Service of the year. Gisselle Salgado ’17 thinks the event is a necessity for the Groton life. “We should stand stronger behind our motto,” she said. “Since most of us are living relatively in privilege, it is essential for us to really help those who are in need.”

Jae-Hee Lee ’16, another board member, thinks that the day will become an amazing opportunity for the whole school to engage in the community. “It certainly fits our school motto,” she said.

Jae-Hee also acknowledges that there are students who would rather take a day off for rest or work. However, she thinks of the day as beneficial for everyone since it provides chances of community engagement students usually don’t get on a daily basis. “It can also provide outlets for students to experience new types of community engagement activities they have not been exposed to previously,” she said. If Grotonians are determined that they are going to get something positive out of this experience they definitely will.

GCE has considered the amount of work students have and picked the date of this event carefully. Taking place right after two AP weeks, the Day of Service is arranged on purpose so that students may take a break from schoolwork and engage themselves with community service when they are stress-free.

The calendar was set last year, and GCE looked for a day that, according to Mr. Freeman-Coppadge, “would allow students to dedicate themselves to the community for a day without the threat of APs looming over them.”

The goal of this day, as always, is to let the students step out of the “Groton Bubble” and fully experience engaging in their rich neighborhoods. Just as Mr Freeman-Coppadge said, “I hope that we would experience the beautiful paradox of service: in giving freely to those around us, we ourselves are rejuvenated and refreshed.”