Last weekend, VIS students from grades 9, 10 and 11 welcomed refugee students from PROSA and had fun cooking lunch together. PROSA (School for everyone) is a school run by volunteer teachers, which allows refugee minors to get the basic Austrian school certificate. It was a pleasure to see the students sharing a love for cooking and spending time together.
The community service programme is part of both the MYP and the IB DP curriculum and requires students to take an active part in the communities in which they live. The emphasis is on developing community awareness and concerns and acquiring the skills to make an effective contribution to society.
This enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development through experiential learning. At the same time, it provides an important counterbalance to the pressures of the rest of the academic programme.
A good community service programme should be both challenging, enjoyable, and a personal journey of self-discovery. Each individual student has a different starting point, and therefore different goals and needs, and for many their activities include experiences that are profound and life changing.