Student service projects are a core component of the curriculum, and philanthropic ventures range from benefit concerts to service overseas. Our students are learning what it means to give.

“The whole things was an interesting learning experience,” says 11th grader Josh Newburger about his recent benefit classical concert for the HAAM organization. “I learned how to work with money, I learned management and I got to use my public speaking skills.”

His benefit, which featured musicians from the Austin Symphony as well as himself and the members of the Austin Chamber Music Center scholarship string quartet, raised $3,135 for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. The money will go towards providing health care for local musicians.

11th grader Brittney Williams, who organized a shoe drive to benefit people in Kenya infected with the “jiggers” parasite, says that once she initiated the idea, plenty of other students jumped in. “The drive was a success,” she says, “I’m happy that once I extended the opportunity to help, people participated.”

This drive to help underlies a number of projects that happened throughout the semester: Jennifer Carlson and Ellie Van Tilburg’s Decorate Your Sole party to support TOMS shoes, Seth Jackson’s benefit concert for the SIMS foundation, Ming and Everett Webre’s KYP benefit concert, Kelley Janes’ advisory’s canned food drive to benefit SafePlace and Caritas. This kind of philanthropy is happening the entire year here, and it’s the kind of giving that shows that our students “getting” it.