Spotlight on Philanthropy

List of 6 items.

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  Butler: Grades 3-5

  At our Butler Campus, students take pride in giving back to their environment! Students in Grades 3-5 regularly tend to invasive species on Campus. Through Grade 4’s Power & Purpose program, students create and execute a project that gives back to Butler for years to come each year. Past projects include benches, a dock, a ramp, and a bridge that are used daily by the larger community.
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  Middle School: Grade 7

  Laurel Seventh Grade students packed twenty-four shoe boxes filled with soap, socks, toys and school supplies for girls in need through Operation Good Samaritan. They decorated each box with care, sorted every item, and thoughtfully filled each one to be delivered to girls who will truly benefit from these essentials. This work is part of the Middle School Seminar focus on community engagement and partnership. What a rewarding way to give back to our community!
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  Middle School: Grade 8

  As part of her leadership goal-setting, Eighth Grade Student Government President Caroline Woolley '30 has prioritized increasing opportunities for Middle School students to serve the Northeast Ohio community both on and off campus. She is working with Laurel Technology Integrationist Karen Redmond and her Collaboratory elective students on a project for RePlay for Kids, a non-profit consisting of volunteers who repair and adapt toys and assistive devices for children with disabilities. The Middle School is doing a toy donation drive in preparation for retrofitting tech toys for differently abled kids. This unique project includes development in Design Thinking skills as well as technical ones, like soldering.
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  Upper School: Grade 9

  Next up, we are shining the spotlight on Reese Samala '29, who helped organize a volunteer training on the Lyman Campus so that interested students in Grades 7-12 could become Youth Challenge teen volunteers. As a new Ninth Grader, she also served as the student co-chair for a reconfigured Laurel community Sarah E. Lyman Day of Service for the Youth Challenge event we hosted at the Butler Campus on October 4. An avid fencer, she arranged, recruited support for, and taught an adaptive fencing station for Youth Challenge participants aged 8-16 years old with physical disabilities. Reese already has plans underway to host another Youth Challenge series at the Lyman Campus this spring.
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  Upper School: Grade 11

  This Giving Tuesday, we are highlighting Ellery Davies '27, who launched a new Capstone-inspired service initiative this fall called “Branch Out”, a group that brings Laurel girls together to accomplish several goals:

  → Build community and strengthen bonds among classmates and different grades

  → Connect Laurel to different organizations in need in Northeast Ohio

  → Grow awareness and broaden knowledge on inequities across the city

  → Earn volunteer hours

  So far this year, Ellery has assembled a group of Laurel volunteers to help out at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The group learned about food insecurity, set up a food donation box, and supported preparations for the church’s October Fest event. 

  
  Ellery and her recruits did not stop there. In November, the team helped to run Laurel’s own Blood Drive and traveled to the Red Cross to volunteer and learn more about disaster relief efforts provided by the organization. The group plans to volunteer throughout the year.
• 

  Community: Grades 8-12

  Our Laurel community takes great pride in giving back all year long. New this year, Service Preseason offered students in Grades 8-12 leadership opportunities in August. Over 50 student volunteers worked with over a dozen nonprofit partners; they built relationships designed to help them continue serving with organizations at the Cleveland Kids' Book Bank, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, OhioGuidestone, WomenSafe, and more!