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LIHA empowers its children to give back to the community and serve. Community service is an integral part of our educational curriculum because it turns a student’s natural inclination to be curious into a complex series of insights, observations, problem solving strategies and inspiration. Each child learns to participate in tikkun olam.
Community Service is an integral part of the LIHA education. This is how children learn to balance their own needs with those of others, and become used to the practice of giving and serving the community as a regular part of life. In line with our problem-solving approach, children have a period each week in which they discuss the problems they see in the world around them and work together on designing and implementing projects to address these problems. Community Service projects are thought through and executed by the children with the guidance of their teachers, and every step of the process is considered an important part of their learning. Children explore issues such as homelessness, poverty, disabilities, disaster-related needs, elderly etc. and design projects appropriate to their age range.
In addition to designing projects to address specific areas of need, the community service component of the curriculum also encourages children to explore and better understand various parts of their Great Neck Jewish community, such as elderly seniors at The Jewish Home and Hospital, or homeless children in Queens. Our approach to community service complements our approach to academic learning and deepens the emphasis on reflection and responsibility that is fundamental to the LIHA culture and the Jewish tradition.
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