Community Service

Maybeck was founded on the idea that sometimes the most pivotal, vital, crucial, and transformative educational experiences occur outside the classroom.

We also hope that this requirement will encourage students to think about their roles in the larger community surrounding Maybeck. In the past, students have worked for a wide variety of agencies, such as the Berkley Animal Care Services, Alameda Meals On Wheels, Oakland Public Library, San Francisco Bay Keepers, and more. Many students take advantage of the requirement to explore fields or issues that interest them.

Students are expected to arrange their community service independently, but the Academic Dean and College Counselor can guide them as they choose the organization for which they wish to work. There are also several valuable resources in the Counselor’s office: information about a wide variety of organizations, a list of organizations with past students’ accounts of their community service, and handouts that summarize the requirement and list agencies where students have volunteered in the past.

GUIDELINES FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE REQUIREMENT

• Students must complete 60 hours of community service within a 12-month period. The service can be completed at any point during the grades 9-12, but should be finished before finals of the student's last semester.

• Students must work for a pre-existing community agency (not-for-profit organization or government agency). At least 30 hours need to be from a single organization.

• Students may not work for a political organization.

• The student's work must be supervised. Immediate family members cannot serve as supervisors.

• Students cannot receive compensation for their work.

• Finally, students give the school a brief oral report on their service during all-school meetings, or during the Spring Retreat.