Community Service at Cedarwood

How is service defined? It is voluntary work intended to help people. At Cedarwood we engage in acts of service towards our community and environment. Service is woven into our fabric in so many ways: our campus, our students, and our employees provide service to each other and to the broader community. The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) includes the ideals of service as one of their principles for accredited Waldorf schools like Cedarwood. Waldorf education holds a long tradition of intentional service to one another other, and to our communities, to gain understanding of others and to deepen our sense of belonging. 

In many of our grades, community service is a key element of the curriculum and often involves time spent in the community to engage in a service project or on-going community gardening. In 8th Grade, the students develop a culminating project of their own design, which includes a service component. As part of their 8th grade trip, the students engage in service work as well, completing trail work, spending time supporting Indigenous communities, or other meaningful work, depending on location. The school has been building relationships with organizations and local communities which allow us to create meaningful service projects within the local context, whether here in Portland or on an 8th grade adventure. 

Additionally, middle school students can take part in the Service Club which meets once a week during lunchtime. Ms. Heather Pearl leads students through selecting local organizations to support and choosing activities that will allow them to offer support, whether with a toy drive, letters to seniors, or fundraising. When visiting with their weekly meeting, 7th  graders Olivia Frank, Flora Benerofe, and Georgia Hartman offered reasons why they like to participate. Flora enjoys having fun while giving back and getting to know students from other grades. Georgia thinks that it’s important to help other people. Olivia thinks it’s important to commit time to volunteer and make it an ongoing practice. During the 2023-24 school year so far, Cedarwood’s Service Club has: 

This year, Service Club also supported an 8th Grade service project: helping Petula Ahrens make quilted squares that will be donated to Positive Charge PDX to create blankets for individuals experiencing homelessness. Last year, the Service Club also ran a book drive for SMART Reading (formerly known as the Children’s Book Bank) and took public transportation to their headquarters to clean books for distribution.

Ms. Pearl has incorporated hands-on projects as well as ways for students to directly connect with new communities, which create greater empathy and understanding between our Service Club students and the people they are serving. For instance, when making Valentine's cards for the vision impaired, they are creating a physical and tactile card for someone relying on touch to see. Handwork is an element of Waldorf education, and while students knit,  they know their project squares will bring someone warmth. The awareness in their understanding of the significance of these small acts is inspiring to witness. Next year, Ms. Jessica Goodwyn, Class of 2025 teacher, will lead the Service Club and looks forward to continuing to build relationships with these great organizations. 

Our campus is also an opportunity to think about service, especially evaluating our environmental impact. Neighborhood House, home to Early Childhood and Grades 1-6, has a solar panel bank which generates a modest amount of electricity. The school also has an onsite stormwater system in the Annex parking lot, which collects rainwater from the Annex Roof and the parking lot, slowing down and cleaning the runoff before it goes into the city’s stormwater system and eventually reaching the Willamette River. Other ways our school reduces our environmental impact include implementing LED lighting, recycling, and using safe cleaning products.  

One of Cedarwood’s committees is the Stewardship Committee, a team of teachers, Mr. Jeremy, and parents who take care of our campus and each other. This committee takes the lead in working with Portland Parks and Recreation and PBOT (Portland Bureau of Transportation) so that we can help take care of the spaces that we use for recess, lunch, movement classes, and festivals. For example, they have created terracing on the slopes from the courtyard to Lair Park and have planted hundreds of native plants, which reduce erosion and look beautiful! The support of Lair Park is essential to Cedarwood because tending to the growing and shifting needs of such a dynamic and heavily used space requires continued effort. 

Another service the Stewardship Committee has developed is working with parents and student volunteers to maintain a street mural painted in the courtyard a few years ago. This helps designate a safer, more vibrant playground and community gathering space. The committee also coordinates the fall leaf rake, and spring landscape planting parties to beautify Lair Park. Cedarwood has been invited to create painted animal art to be installed on fencing and shared walls with our neighbors. This service opportunity engages our parent body, while also touching the lower grades curriculum by learning of the indigenous wisdom of the park, by honoring the deep legacy of this place. 

All of these are many of the ways that Cedarwood tries to care, intentionally, for our community and our campus. We are very proud of our commitment to service, and the impact our students, faculty, school, and families have on our community. There are many ways that families can help out at Cedarwood, please see https://www.cedarwoodschool.org/volunteer-guide for more information. 

Cedarwood Marketing