HW CAIRS (Community Action and Impact Rotation Service) hosted their very first pilot event to launch the program at Kenneth Han State Recreation Area on Jan. 31.
Upper school history teacher Erik C. Wade said he created HW CAIRS to be an addition to help broaden the community service endeavors that already exist.
“Previously, Community Council didn’t have much of a structure for community engagement opportunities for HW students,” Wade said. “We mainly focused on our Community Weeks in the fall and spring, which didn’t allow students much outreach beyond campus. HW CAIRS changed this.”
CAIRS is run by Community Council leaders, provides monthly opportunities for students, and establishes partnerships with non-profits and other organizations in Los Angeles. Atluri said he worked with two other leaders (Yuna Jeon ’26, and Edna Dereje ’26) to organize the logistics of the pilot event and coordinate with volunteers.
“Through this program, we split our team into groups based on service categories that we cared about the most, and we worked to create events, one per month, that actively supported these initiatives,” Atluri said. “Our pilot event just happened this past weekend, where our category was sports and recreation.”
At Kenneth Hahn, student volunteers gathered to go on a hike with participants from Championing Autism, an organization founded by Dereje that supports young adults with autism.
Atluri said the purpose of the event was to maintain a supportive and safe community.
“Our goal was to spend time and engage as best we could with the participants, and we wanted to foster an environment of genuine understanding and engagement, so we intentionally kept our guidelines vague,” Atluri said.
Zamina Shah ’28 volunteered to help out during the event, and said she was able to engage with the participants in activities such as a nature scavenger hunt, listening to music, and playing with bubbles.
“I thought it was a really impactful event,” Shah said. “Since people with special needs or disabilities tend to not have as many opportunities, being able to provide a communal space to socialize and spend time with others was a really fulfilling experience.”
Nicholas Sue ’27 was another student volunteer, and said he volunteered for the CAIRS event because he is strongly against the stigmas against autism.
“I decided to volunteer at this event because I detest the normalized stereotypes of autism,” Sue said. “Many people generalize autism as a disability that makes a person act a certain way, but that notion is completely false.”
Sue said the hike allowed him to experience meaningful moments with his partner from Championing Autism.
“My partner was mostly nonverbal, so we walked with only brief conversations,” Sue said. “He would go at his own pace, so we often lagged behind the rest of the group on the trail. When I asked him if he wanted to go a little faster, he rejected the offer sharply, and I reassured him that we can take as much time as we need. This moment was meaningful for me because I felt that it represented the plight of neurodivergent people trying to keep up with a society that doesn’t wait for them.”
As this was the first CAIRS event, Atluri said the leaders were able to gain a sense of direction for future plans and opportunities.
“What I hope came out of it was a sense of legitimacy for the program going into the future. We knew we had to set a precedent, and we challenged ourselves to make the most out of this opportunity,” Atluri said. “Going on events like these, I really hope volunteers can feel the self-fulfilling feeling that exists when you make a tangible difference and positive impact on others just by volunteering your time.”
