On September 22, 2010, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart located in Bethesda, Maryland opened its doors for the first Social Action Wednesday of the school year. With a new director of Social Action, Mr. Bill Hulseman, taking the reigns for the first time this year, the Stone Ridge community stood in anticipation of a revamped Social Action program.
Mr. Hulseman brings many changes to not only the schedule of Social Action this year, but to the entire structure of the program. However, Mr. Hulseman is not the only new leader of this long-running Stone Ridge program.
This year four fourth academic students have risen to the occasion taking on the role of Social Action leaders. Commonly known at Stone Ridge as SALS, these four girls will guide the first academic students through their first year participating in Social Action. Social Action is a natural breeding ground for leaders at Stone Ridge.
Another group of girls who took advantage of the Social Action program to show off their leadership skills is the Student Social Action Advisory Board, or SSAAB. This group is comprised of girls from each of the four grades in the Upper School who are faced with the task of advising Mr. Hulseman and voicing their concerns about the Social Action Program. Those who have not assumed a leadership role this year face equally daunting changes and challenges as they go out into the community to serve.
The second academic class will, for the first time, be venturing out as a class on service projects throughout the DC metro area. The third academic class faces a new challenge as they experience visiting a regular site each week for their service this year, a large step from their previous years traveling as a class to different locations every other Wednesday.
Many members of the senior class this year maintain a relationship with the sites they visited in previous years, returning for yet another year of dedicated service. Those who have not done so have either moved on to new opportunities at another partner site, or have elected to form their own independent project.
For each and every member of the Stone Ridge community, this year in Social Action is an exciting time full of new experiences and opportunities. The Stone Ridge Social Action program truly pushes its girls to experience the five goals throughout their year of service, as they strive to enhance their personal and active faith in God, a deep respect for intellectual values, a social awareness that impels to action, a building a community as a Christian value, and personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom. Social Action is perhaps the perfect opportunity for Stone Ridge girls to take these values instilled in them at Stone Ridge out into the community that they serve.
