Teachers will implement service learning into their teaching strategy, providing a hands-on approach to education by combining community service with classroom activities.

Social studies teacher Courtney Goen said that the new method is all about engagement and real life application.

“For example, volunteering at a retirement home might turn into volunteering and also interviewing the retirees about their life experiences for your history class,” Goen said.

To introduce service learning into her class on a small scale, Goen is having her students interview immigrants for an immigration project that they are doing. She said that talking to people that have lived through the history that students are studying in class is a good way for students to understand why what they are learning is relevant.

“I think anytime that you can get students to engage with the outside world, and not just with the textbook or the stuff in class, they’re going to be more interested in going to school,” librarian Susan Stutzman said.

Assistant Principal Anne Dolid said that service learning gives students a hands-on opportunity to broaden their perspective and do something that not only benefits the student, but also the community.

“Part of our mission as educators is to help students develop into well-rounded individuals, and part of that is seeing the world beyond the walls of the high school and beyond the boundary lines of Piedmont,” Dolid said. “By going into the community and not only doing service, but also having a classroom component to that service, we are being responsible educators and helping students broaden their perspective.”

Dolid said that for now, teachers are tweaking what they were already doing to incorporate more service learning.

“Before we implement anything, we are using this year as an exploratory year to see how we can best make service learning work at Piedmont High,” Stutzman said.

Stutzman said a few faculty members visited Irvington High School in Fremont in order to see how it conducts service learning. Larger than Piedmont High School, Irvington had a very expansive program.

“[Service learning] is something we believe in and want to pursue,” Goen said.