Volunteer Home Page
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you
who will really be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
-Albert Schweitzer
John Adams Academy strongly encourages each family to volunteer. To fully understand the details of the service request, it is important to first understand the purpose behind it. The policies and actions put forward by the John Adams Academy are designed to reinforce core values in an effort to more fully enrich the education of each scholar.
The most foundational skill upon which all others are built is the understanding, development and application of the attribute of Virtue. The Founding Fathers understood that two types of virtue are necessary for great leaders and statesmen; Private Virtue and Public Virtue.
The Founding Fathers defined private virtue as honesty, integrity and character, in both public trusts and in one’s personal life; and public virtue as voluntarily sacrificing personal comfort or benefits for the good of the nation or community. All true greatness comes from doing the right thing when completely alone and serving without thought of recognition or remuneration.
Through the actions of each John Adams Academy family engaging in service, many of the core principles are modeled and reinforced within the scholar. As we perform service with our children, parents demonstrate their role as the primary and fundamental teachers by exemplifying public and private virtue. This pattern fosters creativity in identifying ways to serve, models what we teach, and helps to create abundance within the John Adams Academy community. It is only through the active participation of all of our families being dedicated to these core values that we will be able to build a culture of greatness.
It is in this spirit and with the understanding of these core values that John Adams Academy requests that families provide 40 hours of service each school year. However, volunteering at John Adams Academy is voluntary. Performing the requested voluntary service hours is not a condition of admission, enrollment, continued enrollment, sibling preference, attendance, participation in educational activities or receipt of credit or privileges related to educational activities at John Adams Academy.
Volunteer Opportunities
- Volunteers can contribute hours at a variety of times and in several ways, such as:
- Weekdays on campus (monitoring drop off and pickup, assisting in a classroom, mentoring on Fridays, completing office administrative work, supervising in the health room, etc.),
- Weeknights on campus (evening school maintenance or volunteering at events),
- Weekends on campus (monthly campus work parties),
- Throughout the year on and off campus.
Finding Opportunities to Volunteer
For instructions on how to find volunteer opportunities, please click HERE.
There are several ways to find volunteer opportunities:
- ParentSquare Groups: Check out the ParentSquare website for academy-wide opportunities, and event volunteer needs. Some volunteer opportunities that require a specific number of volunteers or time slots to be filled will have links to sign-ups on this website.
- Classroom: Communicate with your scholar’s teacher to determine needs and arrange times.
- Urgent Needs: Emails will go out to families when an urgent need for volunteers occurs.
- Surveys: Parents may be asked to complete a survey so that they may be contacted regarding specific expertise related needs.
- Volunteer Project Ideas: If you have an area of expertise and would like to contribute products or services through a volunteer project please contact our Site Secretary at [email protected] in advance to coordinate your project. (For example, constructing something for the academy, designing software, etc.)
Meeting Volunteer Needs
Because volunteers are needed throughout the year and community building is a continuous process, volunteer hour contributions are best divided evenly between the Fall and Spring semesters. This best meets the ongoing needs of our community while helping to prevent front loading or end-of-year need when activities run high.
Did you know…
- Contributing only 1 hour per week from the first week of school through to the last, will total 38 hours of volunteer contribution!
Remember, volunteering at the John Adams Academy community builds a culture of greatness and models our abundance mentality. Families can keep contributing to John Adams Academy scholars and community even after the 40-hour request has been reached!
Volunteering with Preschoolers
While we appreciate the commitment and willingness of John Adams Academy families who have young children, bringing young children with you while volunteering can distract from instruction and poses a safety hazard. Please know that John Adams Academy cannot assume liability in these situations. Therefore, John Adams Academy asks that parents do not to bring along children or babies when serving. There are many other ways parents can volunteer their time if arranging for childcare is not possible. Parents can organize off-site arrangements or playdates that can be supported through the ParentSquare functionality. We will recognize hours for parents who watch children for this purpose, so other can volunteer at the Academy.
Family Member Delegates
For your convenience, family volunteer hours can be contributed by a parent, grandparent or other adult family member.