Upper School Students Dive Into Service Learning

Students Philanthropy Project, Rota Rippers, Souper Supper Relaunch

Community Connections are thriving at SVCS! Upper School students are currently involved with WOW: A Generosity Project and volunteering as ski instructors at Rota Run.

Looking ahead, a group of students from SVCS + Wood River High School is collaborating with The Hunger Coalition, Spur Foundation, teachers from Wood River High School, and other community leaders to reimagine, reinvent and reopen Souper Supper to provide a free weekly community meal during and after Covid. Stay tuned for more details as the project progresses. A special thank you to Calysta Phillips and Lauren Marziliano (SVCS), Herbert Romero (Crisis Hotline/ProjectToolsSuccess), Pamela Donoso (I Have a Dream Foundation, Noah Koski (Flourish Foundation) for all their efforts. 

Rota Rippers
A group of 5 Upper School students has chosen to be the first group of mentors for the Rotarun Rota Rippers program. These US students will go to Rotarun weekly to mentor and coach 5-11-year old skiers in the Wood River Valley in this truly grassroots program run by Scott McGrew. Click here to see a video about the program. We can’t wait to see how things progress!

WOW
A group of 9 Upper School students has signed up to be part of the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) through WOW Students. For the next 7 weeks, students will review 12 grant applications from local non-profits, decide on finalists to interview, and select the recipients of a total of $5000 by the end of February. Click here to watch a video about YPI.
 
According to WOW: The Generorsity’s website, WOW offers a Youth Philanthropy Initiative. Students will participate in this program through a designated classroom or club at their respective schools,this year, two Wood River High School groups and Sun Valley Community School are participating.

“Each participating group will receive $5,000 to award through a grant to a Blaine County nonprofit. Under the guidance of Wow, and a teacher, students will vet grant applications, meet with finalists, and determine who receives grant reward(s). Students will come together with other participating groups to publicly present their grant awards to recipients. Grant recipients can be awarded between $500 and $5,000 in funding.

Through this experience, students will identify and assess local needs and discuss effective strategies for change. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to contribute to the livelihood of our community and to gain a deeper understanding of its social and economic topography through grant-making.”

A special thank you to Louise Stumph and Hollyn Martin of WOW: A Generosity Project!