Definitions of service

As part of my duties of the Measurement Team for our school's strategic plan, I have worked with others to build consensus on our definitions. Here is what we produced:

Global citizenship is an awareness of one’s self, one’s relation to others, and the environment that leads each person to engage in activities which are positive contributions to the community and the world.

Community service is giving of one’s time, effort, and resources for the benefit of others.

Four guidelines for community service have received an initial nod of approval from the school. They clarify (and expand) what activities can count for community service hours.

1. Planning community service
2. Implementing community service
3. Reflecting on community service
4. Celebrating community service

A fifth guideline for service could be equivalency to measure "resources for the benefit of others." It would work along the lines of awarding 1 hour of community service for every 100 fundraising cards sold. This is a grey area which I'm not comfortable with yet.

Global citizenship is one of our three major initiatives in our school's strategic plan (academic success and love of learning being the other two). This initiative is measured through community service hours for grades K-12 by the school's Measurement Team, which I sit on and apparently also chair the community service subcommittee.