Volunteer Overview
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.
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
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.
