“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our students are great because they serve others. We build on the graceful, lovable nature of young children to teach them how they can make a positive mark on their world. To do this, we created a unique community service component to our curriculum: Lend-a-Hand. As much as we emphasize looking inward, we also think it is important for children to look outward. Lend-a-Hand curriculum teaches preschoolers through second graders to act with empathy and lead by example. Preschoolers begin to identify others’ feelings and devise plans to help people in their communities – their families, friends, peers.
As they enter kindergarten, our students are taught how to identify a pressing need in our community and plan a service project to address this need. Some of our students have helped our homeless population, created care packages for soldiers stationed abroad, and made fleece dog toys for a local animal shelter. Our students realize they can use their strengths and interests to make their world a better place. In that realization, they can always be of service; they are always valuable. Magical Journey students stamp our world with their unique fingerprints, as they become changemakers in their communities.