Cistercian’s community service program has always done a great job of providing opportunities for students to serve. This year, the program has greatly improved the way that we can serve those around us by utilizing a social networking app that helps manage our community service work.

Despite all of the controversy surrounding social media, an app called Mobile Serve has been able to aid the Cistercian service program in its attempts to help the community. This is done by effectively informing students about various service opportunities and by tracking service hours.  Since discovering the app, the community service board has been strongly encouraging students to download it, because it is a great way to learn about opportunities to get involved in the community around us.

Another big way Mobile Serve helps the community service program is because of how easily the community service representatives can inform students about upcoming events that they can take part in. Instead of having to manually email the forms about each event, community service representatives can publish an event on Mobile Serve and it will automatically send out an email to everyone letting them know what the upcoming opportunities are. Mobile Serve also gives individuals the chance to share an event that they feel is important. Srta. Kennedy said “this is a very important feature because one of the main ways we learn about service opportunities is through people sharing what kinds of service they find personally important.”

Both Fr. John and Srta. Kennedy have definitely had a major influence on this new era of community service at Cistercian. Fr. John noted that community service is very important to him because he believes that “Community service is the way we enjoy a life of love.” He also emphasized that community service should be done not out of the spirit of meeting a requirement of hours, but out of the spirit of love.

In a meeting with Srta. Kennedy, we discussed the various opportunities the community service board was planning. One major event is the Upper School’s MLK day of service. The community service team is going to line up a number of options for service and the members of each grade in the Upper School, starting with the seniors, will get to choose which events they would like to participate in. The community service team is also working to host more events where we work with the Notre Dame School. For instance, they are currently working on an event where students from the school come to Cistercian and we help them learn about adoration. The team is also working on sending an increased number of students to the Rays of Lights Event, which helps provide a safe place for children with special needs and their siblings to interact with volunteers. This event is special to Cistercian, as many members of our community are involved in this cause.

It is exciting to see the community service program at our school using technology to turn social networking into a positive experience that encourages those around us to take a greater role in service activities, whether it’s picking up trash or working with kids with special needs. No matter what you enjoy doing for community service, there is always an abundance of events to participate in. The continued efforts of our community service coordinators, combined with the Mobile Serve app, will lead to a much more involved community service program.