Student Life
Experiential Learning

Community Service

Service opportunities at Curtis are designed to foster a culture of stewardship with respect to our school community and the many other communities of which our students are a part.
Curtis students participate in lunchtime community service clubs, Seedlings (DK-2), Buds (3-4), and Roots and Shoots (5-6), that meet throughout the year on a monthly basis. At the youngest level, Seedlings, the program is designed to introduce service by exploring the concept of community, what it means to help others, and different ways to be helpful. Students in Seedlings and Buds exercise and develop their Curtis compassionate hearts by participating in projects and activities that are designed and facilitated by the division heads in collaboration with Parents Association volunteers.

In Roots & Shoots for the oldest grades (5-6), students are asked to come up with their own ideas for projects and activities that will have a positive impact on school, neighborhood, our country, and the world. Student-driven projects teach the students that their ideas are valuable and vital to the health of our global community. Roots & Shoots is facilitated by Curtis faculty.

In addition to the lunchtime, age-leveled service groups, many grades have their own annual service projects.

Developmental Kindergarten, Kindergarten and 1st Grade classes serve My Friend's Place, a drop-in center in Hollywood that provides services for homeless teens, by making and packing lunches for the teens.

2nd Grade organizes a gently used book drive with donated books going to a non-profit for redistribution to underserved communities or schools.

4th Grade, with help from Seedlings, Buds and Roots & Shoots, as well as 6th Grade and many parent volunteers, bakes hundreds of loaves of pumpkin bread to be distributed by St. Joseph Center to its clients during the Thanksgiving season.

The 6th Grade classes make numerous visits to St. Joseph Center, where they help serve clients in the food pantry and the Bread and Roses Café. They partner with a local community school to build bicycles that are donated to St. Joseph Center as well.

Our entire Curtis community (faculty, staff, parents/guardians, and students) joins in our own annual Curtis Cares Day of Service, undertaking projects that benefit a number of local non-profit organizations such as One Voice, Operation Gratitude, and Pet Orphans Shelter, as well as our own campus with updates to large-scale art installations and our certified Monarch Waystation garden.

Experiential Learning

Community Service Projects

List of 3 items.

  • Seedlings (DK-2nd Grades)

    • decorated shopping bags for St. Joseph Center's Thanksgiving Food Giveaway
    • made blankets for puppies at the Pet Orphans shelter
    • assembled care packages and wrote cards for deployed U.S. military men and women
    • made bookmarks for the students at a local elementary school for whom the 2nd Graders collected gently-used books in a school-wide book drive
    • delivered seed packets as a thank you to all Curtis staff members
    • decorated "Spring Baskets" for the One Voice "Families Helping Families" project for Grades DK through 4
  • Buds (3rd & 4th Grades)

    • held a "Candy and Cavities" drive (sweets & oral hygiene products) at Halloween
    • baked pumpkin cookies for the Curtis staff to show their appreciation
    • visited nearby Belmont Village, where they read with senior residents and sang holiday songs
    • participated in Pet Orphans' information days
    • 4th Grade held an annual coat drive to benefit children at a local school
  • Roots and Shoots (5th & 6th Grades)

    • promoted a Rice-a-thon to end hunger on the FreeRice.com website
    • 5th Grade students made welcome kits for homeless clients of St. Joseph Center
    • 6th Grade students held drives that collected art supplies for Westside Children's Center, sports equipment for Vista Del Mar School, canned food for St. Joseph Center, pet supplies for ASPCA-LA, and gently-used shoes for Souls4Soles.org
    • promoted Breast Cancer Awareness by organizing the Upper Elementary students and faculty to form a giant pink ribbon for an aerial photo
    • coordinated an all-school-community 5K walk-run

Curtis School

15871 Mulholland Drive  ·  Los Angeles CA 90049
310-476-1251