Juniors | Saint Peter's Prep

Juniors

The junior year Christian Service requirement is 60 hours of direct service with people who are materially poor and/or marginalized in some way. This can be completed on an immersion trip the summer before junior year, or through 60 hours of local service.

The goal of the program is to push students to understand their service work as a response to their faith, and lead them to question injustice by creating relationships with people who are poor and marginalized. As Peter Hans Kolvenbach, S.J. said, “When the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change. Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection.”

There are some important guidelines for the 60 hours to ensure that students have an experience that allows them to create relationships and question the systems of injustice that oppress and marginalize members of society.

Juniors must complete 60 hours of direct service to the poor and marginalized. Service can be completed between June 9, 2012 and the last day of third marking period their junior year. Reflection must be completed in conjunction with the 60 hour requirement in order for Christian Service to be complete.
The service must be continuous. There can be no more than two weeks between site visits. This will be tracked by reflection submissions, so you MUST REFLECT on time. Many non-profit agencies serve transient populations and it is important to create relationships with the clients they are serving.
Service cannot be overseen or coordinated by a family member or completed at a home parish – we want students to step outside the “bubble” of their everyday lives.
All service sites must be approved by Ms. Toomb. All sites found at www.spprep.org/servicedirectory are pre-approved. Any service done at an agency not approved will not be counted toward the 60 hour requirement.
All juniors must complete a reflection project as a mandatory part of the requirement. Details about the project can be found at www.spprep.org/reflection.
Lastly, all juniors will attend a Christian Service Seminar with Ms. Toomb through the end of the third marking period of their junior year.

The Learning Agreement for Local Service can be found here. The local service agreement must be completed, signed, and handed in to me by March 30, 2012.

Verification of Service Hours Completed

A formal letter must be sent or given to the Director of Campus Ministry as verification that the student did indeed fulfill his hours.

This letter MUST:

Be typed on the outside organization’s letterhead or sent from an official email address;

Indicate the exact days and hours of work;

Explain what type of work was performed;

Include the signature, position, and phone number of the supervising person; and

Be received by the Director of Campus Ministry as soon as the project is completed.

Where appropriate, a brochure or description of the program is always beneficial. Letters that do not follow this format will not be accepted. Hand-written notes from parents will not be accepted. It is the student’s responsibility to hand in the appropriate documentation by the appropriate deadline.

If mailed, letters should be sent to the following address:

Maura Toomb

144 Grand St

Jersey City, NJ 07302

Contact Maura Toomb, Director of Campus Ministry at toombm@spprep.org or (201) 547-6457 with any questions or concerns.