Photo by Julianna Leopold

DULUTH—When Hanna Seo watched younger students at Notre Dame Academy struggling with homework, she saw a bit of herself. 

Once a newcomer to the independent Catholic school, with parents whose first language was not English, Seo relates to students who may not be able to lean on parents to help them with classwork. 

The rising senior, whose family heritage is Polish and Korean, brainstormed to create a tutoring program for those lower school students. She wanted to encourage students to turn to her and her friends, especially to guide those whose parents may struggle with speaking or reading English.  

“Notre Dame also has a lot of international students within their lower school, where parents don’t necessarily know the English language,” she said. “The upper school students are able to help with that.” 

Hanna Seo of Notre Dame Academy spends time with younger students after school to help them academically and socially. Seo saw a need to guide the students in the lower grades, particularly those whose parents might struggle with the English language. Photo Courtesy of Notre Dame Academy

She started Bridge by Knowledge as a small project with a handful of lower school students in the spring. In the weekly hour meetings, the young students work with tutors on the classwork where they struggle. Seo said she’s seen academic confidence develop as the students work through the problems.  

“It’s genuinely amazing to see how much they started liking math and English and how much fun they are having all working together,” she said.  

Teachers have seen self assurance grow in young people attending tutoring sessions.  

“Building confidence and enthusiasm around math is such an important first step, and I’m hopeful we’ll continue to see growth as they attend more consistently,” wrote third-grade teacher Kristen Harris in an email.  

With time during the summer to plan the next round of the program, around 18 students have enrolled for the fall already.  

Seo’s work and the service requirements at area Catholic schools seem to put the teenagers in a good position for future success. A recent national survey by Gallup found that community service is associated with confidence and community ties. The data show that young people who engage in service report greater career readiness. 

Building service into life 

Julie Pack, Notre Dame Academy’s service learning coordinator, believes it is key to foster joy in students around community service early and to repeat the experience, so students feel it’spart of their identity, not a box to check. Service starts as early as kindergarten for the 325 students here. Once they reach the upper school, Notre Dame’s requirement is four service projects per year. Each grade works with a nonprofit, taking students from the Atlanta Humane Society and an assisted living center to Rainbow Village, a temporary housing program for families in crisis.  

“We want it to be a part of who they are,” she said. “It’s what God’s called us to do, to love and to serve one another and to truly live the Gospel.” 

Area Catholic schools build service into student life. At St. Pius X High School, the Works of Mercy program asks students to give an hour a month from August to March.  

“When we go out into the world and participate in God’s love through serving others, we come to know the goodness found in each human just as Jesus showed us,” the school’s program states. At Blessed Trinity High School, students are encouraged to give 15 hours to projects serving those most vulnerable and in need, with campus ministry pointing students to the corporal works of mercy, including feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and burying the dead. 

Asking some 3,000 young people, between 12-25, the Gallup survey found 52 percent said service had a positive impact on feeling prepared for a future career. The survey reported young people felt time aiding others builds confidence in practical skills. They were more likely to rate themselves highly in leadership, communication and teamwork. 

Avery Weaver took on a service project to help Donovan Catholic’s baseball team. He asked Athens businesses to support his project and raised more than $2,000. The project he organized improved the field’s dugouts, batting cage and installed a flagpole. Weaver led a group of five adults and three peers to complete the project. Photo Courtesy of Donovan Catholic

Nearly half of young people with service experience reported feeling confident they can achieve the kind of career they want, compared with one-third of those without service experience, according to the survey. Confidence is even higher among those with greater involvement in service. 

Greater involvement in aiding others is a goal at Athens’ Donovan Catholic High School.  

Theology teacher Lanchus Sexius works with the students so their faith commitment to service also translates into adulthood.  

“If they see a need, whether it’s in their family, in society, then they can fulfill that need. And that’s what service is about,” he said, about his hope for growing a service mindset after the students receive their diploma.  

He has built the program around projects for a semester, rooting them in the corporal works of mercy. The school first models service projects for students as teachers create the project and take students into the community. Starting in 10th grade, students create their own projects, generally one per semester. Students must choose the work, design a project around it, present it for approval, complete it and get verification. 

Sexius said he wants the projects to become meaningful and rooted in Catholic teaching for young people. 

For Seo, service can give young people a feeling of accomplishment because they know they helped someone who needed support, no matter how small the task. 

 “It’s like it feels like a big hug to a person,” she said. “That’s something that they need sometimes.”