Preparing students for a lifelong commitment to learning and social responsibility is at the heart of the St. Luke’s experience and our Center for Leadershipprogramming. The School’s motto, Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve inspires students to strive not only for academic excellence but also responsible citizenship and service to humanity.
Kate Parker-Burgard, Center for Leadership Director
Our school motto, “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve” is at the heart of who we are as a school. We believe that character is developed when actions are done in service to the greater good. By using one’s strengths, service locations become laboratories for developing leadership as students gain confidence and develop their identities as people who can help.”
9th graders work the land and plant seeds at the Farms at Holmes
9th grade students raise a wall for home being built
Based on research gathered during J-Term, students propose new service projects.
In the Middle School, each grade focuses on a theme for the year. Throughout these programs, our students are exposed to different organizations and become oriented toward a service mindset. With the comfort of their classmates they discover places and ways in which they might want to continue serving on their own.
As our students mature, our community service program grows with them. In the Upper School, we offer a variety of grade-wide and school-wide service activities, but we also ask students to take on individual service engagement. Our Upper School students are in the midst of forming their identity. We want students to ask themselves, “What matters to me? What strengths or skills do I have to offer? How can I contribute to my community?” Through their initiative and our support, students pursue service in areas that interest them as well as develop their sense of responsibility and leadership.
Kids Helping Kids is running many service projects for middle and upper school students. Check out their website (kidshelpingkidsct.org) to learn more about how you can get involved.
During this pandemic, students can earn up to 5 hours helping out neighbors who have particular challenges. If you volunteer to shovel an elderly neighbor's driveway, or provide a meal for them, or run errands for those who can't get out, you can earn as many as 5 hours. Please add those to MobileServe and put in an adult who can testify to the work you did as the supervisor.
Upper School students interested in virtual tutoring this year, can email Callie Gray at MobileServe and let her know that you want to sign up for BookNook tutoring: callie@mobileserve.org
Duncan Edwards, Executive Director, Waterside School
St. Luke's kids are different. They connect, they care, they work, they seem eager to learn, and most important, in every imaginable way, they display the greatest respect for our children."
St. Luke’s School is a secular private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving 25 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.