Service Day Preview- Caitlin Geoghegan ’24

Oak Knoll’s annual Service Day is a day everyone looks forward to! This year’s service day will be on Thursday, October 27th. Instead of our usual classes, we will all participate in community service and educational activities regarding injustices. Service day brings life to the phrase of our school’s founder Cornelia Connelly, “Actions not words”. Some of the service activities involve students leading service projects on campus to make products that we will later donate to local non profit organizations. These projects include making bracelets and cards for military members, making dog toys for dogs in a shelter, decorating capes for children in the hospital, making fidget books for dementia patients at Overlook Hospital, making friendship bracelets for children in the hospital, and coloring pictures for Color a Smile. Other service activities include off campus field trips to local organizations, including the Reeves Reed Arboretum, Community Food Bank of NJ, Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, Bridges Outreach, The Raptor Trust, Sacred Heart School, Dominican Monastery, and Garden Works. Service day will end with presentations led by the juniors. Juniors pair up, choose a justice issue, and teach groups of students about that certain issue. Following that, the juniors will lead a class discussion and activity. They will present on a wide variety of issues including human trafficking in the US, pregnancy support, poverty in big cities, domestic abuse, and animal cruelty. Service day continues to be a campus-wide effort of students and faculty helping the surrounding community, and Oak Knoll students are looking forward to the day!