Community Service

Community service is an intrinsic part of the Collegiate experience. As part of its mission, Collegiate is committed to guiding boys to develop strong habits of caring for and helping others. 

Lower School students participate in group community service projects and boys commonly come up with their own ideas about ways to serve one another and the wider community.

For example, First Grade volunteers in Riverside Park bi-monthly. Master gardeners teach the boys lessons about mulching, raking and planting bulbs. Second Grade focuses on the issue of hunger in our city. They deliver meals to homebound senior citizens, conduct food drives and volunteer their time at two local food pantries. Third Grade visits Manhattan Children's Center bi-monthly. The students learn about ASD and engage in social interactions and play games with their MCC friends. These visits continue during Fourth Grade and have proven to be extremely meaningful to all participants.

The Community Service Learning Club in the Middle School plans and organizes community service opportunities in and out of school. Examples of projects include  a can drive for the Bowery Mission or students doing online tutoring with elementary schoolers. They also have plans to host community service/volunteer meet-ups for students outside of school.

Students are required to engage in community service during each year in the upper school.  At its best, the program mobilizes the whole division for planned activities and also motivates individual students to make commitments of their own time.  We encourage students to form long-term relationships with organizations that match their interests.  We also advertise opportunities for one-time programming to help students schedule community service projects that work in their schedules.  Ninth graders must complete ten hours of supervised work during the school year, while tenth graders and upperclassmen complete fifteen hours.