Community Council hosted their annual service week to introduce students to various community service opportunities from  Nov. 3-11.  The service opportunities are meant to facilitate giving back to the community through activities while also promoting meaningful connections. 

Angel City Sports representatives spoke about their program and taught students how to play wheelchair basketball during class meeting blocks. Other service week activities included letter writing to senior citizens and a speaker from Ace of Hearts Dog Rescue on animal adoption, with students able to play with puppies if they donated a toy to the organization. At the end of the week, Community Council gave free pie to students who submitted six or more hours of community service before Nov. 4. 

Community Council member Sophie Shabani ’24 said service week exposes students to various types of community service, which is not only stimulating but also provides students with ways to find their own means of giving back to the community. 

“There are literally endless different opportunities and organizations that you can participate in,” Shabani said. “It’s important to find a service activity that you’re passionate about so everyone can give back to the community, whether it be [your] school, your neighborhood, your sport or anything else. Not only will it make you feel good, but it will also be fun.”

Community Council member Idalis McZeal ’23 said the most successful event was the wheelchair basketball game.

“Everyone really got into [the game] and I think that provided an opportunity for students to participate in the game to learn more about how difficult it is to actually be in a wheelchair,” McZeal said. “I feel like everyone learned a lot in the trivia. There was really high energy and everyone was very supportive of people who were playing the game, which was obviously nice to see.”

Sasha Gadalov ’25 said she enjoyed watching her peers participate in the Angel City wheelchair basketball game.

“[The Angel City basketball game] was very informative and shined a light on something  that I really didn’t know a lot about before and it opened my eyes to new opportunities,” Gadalov said. “It was honestly a great experience and I have a lot of respect for the athletes [that performed].”

Gadalov said she was excited to be able to donate to the Ace of Hearts organization and play with the puppies on the Quad.

“Bringing the puppies to school was a great idea,” Gadalov said. “Playing with the puppies brought me joy throughout the day since I was already stressed out with school.”

Laura McNary ’25 said she appreciated writing letters to senior citizens during her lunch period.

“The letter writing activity was a good way to have a break from the academic school day,” McNary said. “It was fun to be able to do something that could brighten someone else’s day.

Anaya Olivas ’25 said service week is beneficial for students to get familiarized with community service opportunities at the beginning of the year and explore ideas for service credit but also to think about the community with more perspective.

“I feel like a lot of times people are scrambling for community service hours [at the end of the year], but it’s important that they have this week so people can get some ideas or at least start thinking about it earlier in the school year,” Olivas said. “I definitely think it’s easy for students to get caught up in their own bubble and not really think of the grand scheme of the city or the world or anything.”