One of the core values of Seattle Prep is to be “men and women for others”. The question is: how do people learn to be men and women for others? This is not just something someone can just learn in a classroom, this is something that must be practiced.
Seattle Prep practices this through the Magis Service and Justice Program. Prep students are called go out into the greater Seattle are to better the community where they come from. This program teaches students important lessons that help shape them into becoming men and women for others. One of the core lessons students learn is how to understand the needs of all people from different backgrounds, further helping them discover to what extent they can help others. In order to broaden the definition of what it means to serve others, each grade follows a theme that explores different ideas of service.
Freshmen follow the theme “Care for our Common Home”. As the freshmen create a new home at Seattle Prep, they are called to reflect on the home that they came from. This “home” could be their faith community or previous school. “Home” could also mean volunteering at a food bank or serving a meal for others. Through their service, freshmen learn that serving and caring for others starts with caring for the places and people that make up their common home.
In their sophomore year, students follow the theme “Option for the Poor and Vulnerable”. This encourages students to search beyond their own experiences and explore the poverty and marginalization that exists within the community. Sophomores do this by serving local organizations that support the poor, unhoused, and vulnerable members of the greater Seattle area. Students reflect on how God calls us to help those who need it most, and to see the human stories behind the people they serve.
By junior year, students dive deeper into their service journey through the theme of “Solidarity through Service”. This calls on students to expand their service from one-time experiences and build lasting relationships with the people they serve through sustained commitment. Each junior commits themselves to serve at a single organization for a yearlong service project, dedicating their time to care for a community in need. While similar to the sophomore service, this takes it one step further through the aspect of commitment and solidarity to that one organization. As students go back to their service sites again and again, they begin to understand that true solidarity is not just about helping others, but about walking side by side with them and recognizing the human dignity that connects all people together.
Seniors follow the theme “Ignatian Leadership and Civic Action”. As the seniors come to the end of their time at Seattle Prep, they complete one more year of service by giving back to the Prep community. Seniors step into leadership positions to not just lead, but to pass on the lessons they have learned through their acts of service. They also complete a presentation that reflects their path to becoming Ignatian leaders and living up to the grad-at-grad values. In many ways this makes the service journey at Prep come full circle for every student. As freshmen begin the journey by caring for the community that shaped them, seniors conclude that journey by caring for the Prep community that will soon become their former home.
From their first steps as freshmen to their last steps as seniors, students at Seattle Prep go on this journey to grow into men and women for others. Each year of service places a brick for the next, laying the foundation to teach commitment to justice, empathy, solidarity, and commitment to others. At graduation, students don’t just have their experiences to take with them on the next journey, they take values that guide them toward a lifelong call to serve with compassion.
