Opportunities to Serve
SERVICE LEARNING CURRICULUM
Each year Marian students complete an annual service requirement as part of the school curriculum. More than just the recording of hours, students will be invited to reflect on their service and integrate their experience with the lessons they are learning in their classes.
Throughout a student's four years at Marian he or she will encounter a compelling narrative about the role of service as it pertains to one's ultimate vocation. Service starts in the home and then radiates outward to one's community.
- Freshmen: 2 different service projects amounting to at least 6 hours done in the "household".
- Sophomores: 3 service projects / experiences amounting to at least 10 hours (S1 may include Knights Service Day).
- Juniors: Minimum of 12 hours per year with at least 8 for a single organization.
- Seniors: Minimum of 12 hours per year with at least 8 for a single organization.
- Theology - Freshmen, Sophomores, Seniors
- English - Juniors
AREA ORGANIZATIONS WHO PARTNER WITH MARIAN TO PROVIDE SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR COMMUNITY (click to open)
MARIAN ORGANIZATIONS DEDICATED TO SERVICE
Marian High School offers several student organizations that have as their core mission service to others. These groups include:
Visit each page within Clubs & Activities for more information.
IMMERSION EXPERIENCES
Marian students have several opportunities throughout the year to take trips that are immersion-based. The focus of these trips is to expose students to experiences and people very different from themselves, and to provide them with direct experience interacting with people who have been cast to the margins of society.
From attending luncheons with guests of the Center for the Homeless to praying the Rosary with the elderly, to drinking coffee with patrons at Our Lady of the Road Catholic Worker Center, these trips challenge students to expand their view of the world that God so dearly loves.KNIGHT SERVICE DAY
Initiated in 2014 as part of Marian's 50th anniversary, Knight Service Day is a celebration in which the Marian family gives back to the local community. Every student, faculty, and staff member, along with countless parent volunteers and alumni gather into organized groups and together donate a day of service at over 50 not-for-profit agencies, parishes and schools in the Michiana area. These student groups provide many hands to complete necessary projects while learning more about our community's many philanthropic organizations.
After the event, students reflect with their Theology classes on what this opportunity to do volunteer work means to them. The students are always overwhelmingly positive in their evaluations and often pursue a continued service relationship with the organization to which they are paired for the day.
Marian's Pastoral Minister and the Advancement Office coordinate this event with the help of many volunteer parents. Any Marian parents or alumni interested in volunteering for this event should contact the Pastoral Ministry Office for more information.
ERIC'S PROMISE
Eric's Promise is a service program dedicated to the memory of Eric Henry. Eric was a beloved member of the Marian High School Class of 2002 whose life ended tragically as a result of a single car accident.
I have always been aware that there are people in need of housing, clothing, food, and medicine. On Ash Wednesday, the evening before Eric died, he made a Lenten promise "to try to be more giving." His first step in fulfilling that promise was to donate several bags of his clothes to the St. Vincent De Paul Society. Eric never had the chance to complete what he had started so, his friends and classmates decided to do it for him.
They collected a truckload and a half of items to donate in his memory. They presented hundreds of bags of clothes and various items to donate and brought them to the altar at a memorial Mass held in his honor. As Eric's mother, I was very touched by what the students at Marian High School had done. I decided that this would be a beautiful way to honor Eric by creating a legacy of love and kindness to others in our community.
~ Mary Molnar, mother of Eric Henry (courtesy of Country Living magazine)
Since this time, Marian students, alumni, staff and faculty have remembered Eric's Promise by being more giving throughout the entire Lenten season. In the first 17 years of Eric's Promise, this was primarily through clothing donations for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Now our students students, faculty staff and the rest of the Marian community are challenged each week to do a specific Act of Kindness that focuses on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
