A Celebration of Service at Mount Saint Mary Academy

Service is a core value at Mount Saint Mary Academy, a guiding principle which not only aims to inform conscience but to inspire action. The hallmark of the school year’s many service activities is the annual school-wide Service Day. This year’s event took place on March 12 as students and faculty volunteered at a multitude of venues in addition to participating in activities on campus. They visited hospitals, educational facilities, and food banks, in addition to assisting national and international non-profit organizations.   

Mount freshmen lent their talents in a number of hands-on activities on the school’s campus. They made blankets for Project Linus, an organization which provides hand-made blankets to seriously ill children; they created sock puppets for Operation Smile, an international children’s medical charity that provides reconstructive surgery for children born with facial deformities; and they composed letters and cards for patients at Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside and children at Kopila Valley School in Nepal through the BlinkNow Foundation.

Sophomores visited a number of off-campus locations, including Runnells Specialized Hospital in Berkeley Heights, Sage Eldercare in Summit, Options in Piscataway, Life Choices in Metuchen, Crossroads School in Westfield, and McAuley Hall, also a sponsored work of the Sisters of Mercy, in Watchung.    

Members of the junior class prepared hundreds of care packages for American troops serving overseas which contained everyday supplies and thank-you notes as part of Operation Shoebox. The organization was founded in 2003 with the goal of raising troop morale and providing practical assistance to military personnel while they serve abroad. Mount juniors also prepared cards and patches for comfort quilts as part of Operation Quiet Comfort, a non-profit which supports injured servicemen and women and their families. On Service Day, they sent boxes to 11 medic hospitals in Afghanistan. The organization’s secretary, Katie Baron, spoke with students about her experience not only as a Quiet Comfort volunteer but as the mother of a US Sailor.    

In what has become a Service Day tradition, the entire senior class volunteered at Hillside Community Food Bank in Hillside.

"It was so heartwarming and exciting to see the students give their all into projects for others,” said Mount Theology teacher Mrs. Madeline Soccodato, one of the event’s coordinators. “The students look forward to and are very involved in Service Day.  During Lent, we are told to think outside of ourselves and concentrate on others, concentrate on what Jesus has taught us and what He has done for the betterment of us. Service Day speaks volumes in this effort."

Service Day is an essential component of the Mount’s school community, which upholds the core values of the Sisters of Mercy: justice, respect, integrity, compassion, and service.      

Mount Saint Mary Academy is a Catholic, independent school which provides an exemplary college preparatory education for young women in grades 9 through 12.  Founded in 1908 as a sponsored work of the Sisters of Mercy, the Mount remains committed to challenging each student to develop her fullest potential in a Christian atmosphere of love and caring.