Community Engagement

Community Engagement at MCDS creates opportunities for students, faculty, staff and families to gain and nurture a deeper sense of curiosity, empathy and action so that they are inspired to challenged and inspired to work towards a better, more sustainable world.

The school community is actively engaged in experiences both on and off campus that foster growth and deepen understanding of all kinds – academic, social and emotional. This is at the heart of the school’s Community Engagement program, one of the primary tools used to integrate the school’s mission and core values into the life of MCDS.

Students engage in activities that help them to see their place and role in the greater community through both community service projects that address short-term needs and service learning curriculum with deeper and more thoughtful preparation and reflection. Students learn how a healthy community benefits them and how this mutual connection is integral to the development of equity and social justice.

We believe that well-informed, responsible and self-aware global citizens are those who most effectively “envision and work towards a better world.”  To accomplish this, we ask students to practice and reflect on the following cultural competency skills, habits of mind and core attitudes:

  • cooperation
  • flexibility
  • mindfulness
  • perseverance and resiliency
  • integrity
  • empowerment
  • humility
  • empathy
  • patience

Adults in our community model these skills, habits of mind and our core values through our active parent volunteer program, regular family outreach experiences in the greater community and opportunities for faculty and staff to engage in the broader community both alongside students and individually.