Community & Community Service
Building community is one of the core values of the Alternate Learning Program. Many students drift through high school without feeling like they truly belong to any of the communities around them. ALP does two things to change this perception: create a community within the school, and connect our students with the surrounding community through service learning. We feel this process is so valuable that students who successfully complete a semester-long Community Service/Community Class receive elective credit for doing so.
Throughout the year, ALP students perform a wide range of community service activities. They unload trucks full of citrus for the Kiwanis Club, sort food donations for Person-to-Person and the Lower Fairfield County Food Bank, collect used clothing and costumes for distribution to emergency shelters, assemble Thanksgiving and Christmas packages for Darien families, and assist with the DCA tag sale. This provides not only work experience but a chance to better understand the towns and communities around them.
[for more information, visit: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/chu/edc/sl ]
Within the high school, ALP works hard to create a strong, positive community for its members. We meet regularly as a group to discuss and plan our fundraising, field trips, and community service activities. We also use this time to conduct school and program business, deal with any issues or problems which arise, and spend time together to cement our bonds.
Each quarter, we try and plan an ALP field trip designed purely to develop a sense of community and energy. We have gone regularly to the Wilton YMCA's ropes course, sailed on the SoundWaters schooner, hiked the hills of Pound Ridge Reserve, and seen the IMAX shows at the Norwalk Aquarium.
[for more information, see: http://www.character.org/principles/]