As a school grounded in the Christian faith, HKIS has a strong history of service, connecting with and contributing to society in partnership with the community. In our classroom discussions, our extracurricular activities, our daily exchanges with those around us, and in everything we do, the HKIS community strives to live out our mission of dedicating our minds to inquiry, our hearts to compassion and our lives to service and global understanding. HKIS’s mission statement embodies the service learning journey of investigation, planning and preparation, action, reflection and demonstration. Through inclusive, reciprocal and sustainable partnerships, students develop the skills needed to form authentic relationships in our diverse society and to make meaningful contributions to our local and global community. Service at HKIS is defined by our mission to cultivate a flourishing world through 5 core values – sustainability, empathy, empowerment, impact and community.

Students define these core values in their service work and often collaborate with Hong Kong-based NGOs, the heart of our charitable endeavours and fundraising achievements. Through working with these NGOs, students learn how to listen and serve a community in partnership instead of simply performing service upon others with no understanding. “We aim to learn, listen, connect, empower and serve as partners with the community,” says Lindsay Ernst, Service Learning Coordinator at HKIS. “This means helping students learn how to research and understand the strengths and needs of the community before serving, building empathy within our student body, and mentoring students to contribute effectively and meaningfully.” HKIS students work with over 35 NGOs, including but not limited to Crossroads International, Mother’s Choice, Branches of Hope, Feeding Hong Kong, IBEL, and Hong Kong Student Aid Society.

Service clubs at HKIS participate in various events to promote their initiatives. The high school’s signature event is Gratitude and Giving (G&G), a month-long initiative to encourage 3-4 NGOs and help them fundraise and spread awareness about their causes to the broader community. Last year, G&G emphasised empowerment and empathy, shifting focus away from simply fundraising. “We didn’t only want to make a tangible impact by raising money, but also valued growing our school’s mindset towards service to increase our capacity to give”, Vivian says when discussing why this was such a focus for the event last year. Initiatives included running a refugee simulation by working with the NGO Branches of Hope and running a Gratitude Festival for Migrant workers to show the community’s gratitude towards being the backbone of Hong Kong society.

In the Middle School and Upper Primary, students from these two divisions work together to raise awareness for childhood cancer through the annual St. Baldrick’s Event, which has run for the past 18 years at HKIS. Students shave their heads to raise awareness about childhood cancer and also to raise funds to support childhood cancer research. This is in collaboration with Hong Kong’s Children’s Cancer Foundation. Outside of this, both divisions have extracurricular activities that allow students to connect to meaningful service.

UP has a service club that promotes acts of kindness on the UP campus, hosts Kindness Walks with the NGO ImpactHK where kids learn about homelessness in Hong Kong, ran a toy drive to support children and families staying at the Ronald McDonald House, and worked to alleviate loneliness among the elderly in Hong Kong by connecting with elderly through music workshops.

In the middle school, the club Green Dragons raises awareness about environmental sustainability, runs the Garage Sale at the annual World's Fair and built a greenhouse outside the Culinary Arts room. The Service Club and Community Service Ambassadors run a sports day for students served by the NGO IBEL, make meals for refugees, ran a book drive for Zubin, and hosted a food drive for Feeding Hong Kong. The MS also has teacher led clubs that make quilts for the ill and lead peer tutoring sessions for under-resourced communities.

While fundraising is a part of service, it is not the sole focus at HKIS.To help students further understand and research this connection and understanding, besides student-led initiatives, there are also other foundational opportunities for service, which include experiential learning, grants to support service projects and coursework tied into service.

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“Fundraising is meaningless if students do not have a deeper connection and understanding,”

-Lindsay Ernst

Experiential learning towards service is seen in programs such as Interim in the High School and PEAK (Program of Experiential Activities for Kids) in the Middle School. Both these programs offer opportunities for students to engage in service outside of school, ranging from working to protect biodiversity in Hong Kong to helping local tribes in Vietnam refurbish classrooms to developing clay housing in Siem Reap outskirts for locals to rent to tourists as a source of income.

Upper Primary, Middle and High School students at HKIS can submit service focused projects to the annual James A. Handrich Endowment Fund to receive financial support from the school to help launch their initiatives. The purpose of this Endowment is to help further the school’s mission and student learning results of ‘Self Motivated Learning’ and ‘Contributing to Society’. . In last year’s grants, projects included initiatives that supported English-language learning in underprivileged communities and the distribution of care packages to cardboard collectors in Hong Kong, who often suffer from various ailments due to their careers.

Two students presenting a service project for the James A. Handrich Fund

In HKIS coursework, students have opportunities to continue serving the community. The high school “Humanities In Action” courses, available for Grade 9 and 10 students, feature various service components where students volunteer in different places in Hong Kong and learn more about local underprivileged communities. They also engage in multiple questions about modern social issues, which helps them build a refined awareness about service initiatives, and also improve their ability to research and successfully help a community. Another class focusing on service is Learning Service in Action, which is available for Grades 10,11 and 12. Students explore their vision for social change by collaborating with various service field partners and learning how to advocate for local communities.

At HKIS, the focus is not just on performing actions of service but ensuring that they are meaningful and well-researched. With their dedication towards global service and understanding, students are empowered to participate in the various opportunities towards service at HKIS and build a sense of how they can help communities and continue to contribute to society even after their time as Dragons.