Santa Fe Prep makes a strong commitment to the Santa Fe community each year, with students, teachers, administrators, and parents engaging in various service projects for two hours every Thursday afternoon. Currently, many of us feel the absence of this service learning. Across our stretch of remote learning and physical distancing, Prep will neither require nor suggest that community members put themselves or others at risk by actually working in the physical community. However, we are hard at work developing ways of reaching out virtually for those who want to. Please reach out to TAP Director Eric Rounds if you are interested in any of these service ideas, and we will connect you as opportunities are developed.
Santa Fe Public Schools
This is a trying time for all schools, perhaps more so for Santa Fe’s public schools. Under normal circumstances, we send about fifty Prep students each Thursday afternoon out to public schools to help teachers, to tutor, to mentor, and to provide enrichment opportunities. These schools started remote learning on 3/30 and we are working to figure out how we may best serve them. Possibilities include remote tutoring or recordings of our students reading children’s books to elementary school children.
Senior Living Centers
This school year, Prep has not had a group assisting this population in their residences. However, as we know from the news, or perhaps our own loved ones who live in a senior facility, it is a tough time now for our elders. We have reached out to about ten different facilities in the Santa Fe area to see how we might be able to help. The residents are not allowed to have friends or family visit in person, and these elder homes are slowly and painfully trying to ramp up Zoom, Facetime, Google Meet, etc. As we might imagine, these populations are not easily introduced to these newer technologies. Additionally, all the facilities are limiting internal group activities, which is leading to even more isolation. All of that said, here are some TAP ideas that might hold promise:
- Becoming a pen pal with a resident (we will provide prompts and guidance.)
- Send a card or write a kind letter (from a provided list of names), where you perhaps share a little about yourself and include a drawing.
- Recording yourself performing a piece—musical, vocal or otherwise, which we can email to Activity Directors at the facilities to share with residents.
What SFP Griffins, Current and Former, Are Doing
We realize that there may already be much happening in virtual service in the broader Prep community and we would like to capture and share this information. Along these same lines, we also would like to collect suggestions that we may share. Please email Eric Rounds if you have a tiny or large piece of service that you are providing right now.
Thank you!