THE HEART BEHIND CHCA’S SERVICE
A deeper look at CHCA’s Student Organized Service program and how it’s
transforming lives both in our communities and within the students themselves.
By: Lucy Beatty ’26, Student Writer
NOT YOUR AVERAGE SCHOOL PROGRAM
Did you know CHCA has over 36 different active service groups? That means we serve over 30 organizations and groups of people. It also means we have 57 service leaders. And by the time they graduate, students at CHCA have an average of 250-plus service hours.
Pretty impressive, right?
Service is one of the four main values of CHCA’s education, but what does that really mean? We offer after-school care to kids with working parents, write encouraging letters to nurses, play music for those with Alzheimer’s disease—all of which are impressive, especially when the groups are fully run by high schoolers—but so what?
CHCA’s Student Organized Service (SOS) is unique because of the impact it has not only on Cincinnati and the surrounding communities, but the impact it has on the students at CHCA and how they’ll end up using the leadership skills and servant heart they’ve developed for the rest of their lives.
FROM TRIFOLDS TO TEAMWORK: SOS RECRUITMENT BEGINS
SOS starts at the SOS Fair. In the first week of school, all the SOS groups make a trifold describing the mission and impact of their group. The leaders then have to market their group to fellow students (aka potential volunteers). Tensions are high this week: Who can recruit the greatest number of people? Some resort to bribery, displaying candy all around their board. Others decorate their boards in elaborate colors and designs, hoping to attract stray eyes in the hallway. Some leaders may be seen practicing their elevator pitches that they learned from the Leader Training run by the high school SOS board members in the summer.
Once volunteers have successfully been recruited, it’s time for the planning to begin. All the leaders will meet with their assigned board member within the first month of school to get their group launched. This involves picking dates, contacting organizations, and planning the event.
When I got the chance to talk to alum Maddie Polen ’24 about SOS recruitment and planning, she said that these parts of SOS still impact her today in her work and college life. Maddie was able to “learn how to fundraise and how to make connections … how to talk to people in authority positions and set up meetings with them.” Additionally, she “learned how to keep things organized, like how to give people roles. I learned how to say, ‘You do this,’ instead of taking full charge of an event.” Between the leader training, SOS Fair, and planning, the SOS program is building up leaders who know how to market, take charge, and delegate responsibilities.
TURNING PASSION INTO PURPOSE
Finally, we’ve reached the fun part. Once the organizational stuff is done, it’s time to serve. During this part of SOS, CHCA kids are outreaching to the elderly, homeless, disabled, and sick to further the Christian value of service.
In the Bible, we’re called to “use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10 NIV). SOS offers students the opportunity to explore what they’re passionate about and how to use their passion to further God’s kingdom. Maddie talked about this, saying, “My favorite part about SOS is that once you get into it, you can find a lot of things you love. SOS is more about finding out who you are, and how you can make a difference with your passions.” It’s easy to think that those who can cook or play music could serve marginalized communities, but truly any gift can be used as a service. We have an SOS group that teaches high schoolers how to crochet, and then they make sleeping mats for people who live on the streets. Moreover, one leader loves engineering, so he teaches elementary students frugal engineering in an after-school program. SOS gives students the opportunity to not only find new passions, but also how to use those God-given gifts to help others.
Most importantly, service centers hearts to be more like Christ. Rebecca Peltier, the SOS teacher at CHCA, shared that “service is integral to who we are as people and Christians. It is a crucial part of our call to ‘come, follow me.’” Our Christian faith is the root of everything we do in SOS. As the Bible says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NIV). Whether I’m at a Leader Lunch, board meeting, group planning session, or about to serve, it is always opened in prayer or a devotional. This way we can reorient our hearts and minds to why we’re really serving, and whose image it is that we’re pursuing.
What’s beautiful about this is that service doesn’t stop after you’re done serving; rather, it changes every single part of your life. The disposition of your heart becomes pointed toward service and helping others. In turn, we are opened to a new and profound form of joy. Mrs. P describes it as “the work that we do through service is transformational for ourselves, for those we serve, and for those who see it. It brings love, justice, and truth back to the forefront when it is easily sidelined in today’s world.”
I can remember times in my high school career where moments of contentment were the strongest I’ve ever had. Whether I was playing cello for someone with dementia and I see their eyes light up, talking to a woman in rehabilitation and she starts to share her story, or seeing one of my volunteers building confidence in their leadership, the joy I received was more fulfilling than any other activity I’ve participated in.
What’s amazing about service, though, is you don’t have to go to a homeless shelter to serve. You can serve others in work, at home, or through hobbies. Like Mrs. P says, we start to view everyone “as members of the Body of Christ, there are no ‘others’—just different parts of the same body. Taking care of any members of this body is more than service: It’s who we are, what we are made for, and it is written in our hearts.”
There’s always someone you can serve through kindness and compassion. SOS is a unique opportunity that is offered to students at CHCA. While the “SOS statistics” of hours and activities are very impressive, it’s truly the heart and joy behind service at CHCA that makes it so transformative. Mrs. Peltier said it best: “Service at CHCA is an opportunity to transform us from ‘a school that serves’ to a community of people with a heart of service.”
