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Published: Monday, Nov. 05, 2012 / Updated: Monday, Nov. 05, 2012 10:12 AM

Palisades Episcopal students learn through service

LAKE WYLIE -- 

Palisades Episcopal School incorporates service learning in its curriculum.

During their monthly trip to Lake Wylie Retirement and Assisted Living Community, second-grade students spent time reading Halloween books with residents.

Next month, junior kindergarteners will make muffins to deliver to community service providers including postal workers, police officers and firefighters.

“The service learning component of our curriculum is what connects learning at PES from our students’ heads to their hearts,” said Kerin Hughes, the head of school at PES. “We’re teaching children to be not only good intellectual thinkers, but also good moral thinkers.”

Last month, middle school students traveled to Riverbend Farms to gather leftover crops to deliver to homeless shelters and local food banks. During this same project last year, students collected more than 3,000 pounds of turnips and pumpkins.

Middle school students will travel in June to Savannah, Ga., to participate in their yearly weeklong mission trip organized through YouthWorks. Students will serve area residents through projects with The Salvation Army, long-term assisted living centers, children’s homes and through the city of Savannah.

“Our children need to experience serving others as they are our future,” said Angela Hock, parent of a PES third-grader and fifth-grader. “My children are so excited about upcoming activities and still speak of past events.”