Cultivating Connections Through The Community Engagement Center

Since September, twenty-two students at The Bush School have participated in several student-generated community outreach projects, lending a helping hand to about sixteen different partner organizations in the community through the Community Engagement Center.
 

The Bush School Community Engagement Center is dedicated to empowering students to become active, compassionate, and immersive members of their communities. The program strives to promote a culture of leadership, community service, and initiative that fosters personal growth, social responsibility, and positive change. Through partnerships with community-based organizations and self-led passions, the Community Engagement Center aims to inspire Bush Upper Schooler students to partake in uplifting the communities around them and experiencing the power of community engagement.

“The Community Engagement Center is a program that was hatched by a group of teachers on the DEI committee last year,” said Susanne Eckert, Upper School History Faculty. “We pitched the idea to Matt Lai (Upper School Director) and the Senior Leadership Team who gave the green light to it. I then worked with Eva F.  ’26, Reya G.  ’26, and Anusha S.  ’25, who were already working in student-led service-related clubs to envision how the school could help them get more institutional support behind their community service initiatives.”

On Sunday, November 10, Upper School students volunteered with World Relief, a humanitarian organization which aids refugee families in need. This project was arranged by Upper School student Kiran B. ’26 and Alum Ben Pryde ’12, who oversees a non-profit organization that provides temporary housing for recently arrived refugee families. This dynamic group spent the day raking leaves around the housing areas, ensuring the newly settled families felt welcome and supported. Students had the opportunity to meet and connect with one of the families, who shared hot tea as a token of their appreciation.
 

 Bush Upper School Students are also making a huge difference at other schools in the community. Every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., a group of students meet up at Lowell Elementary School for “Power Hour,” a tutoring program which has provided extra reading and math assistance to K-5 students for the last two years.
 

“We send about ten students every week,” said Upper School student Anusha S., who organized the program. “They engage with the younger students, and we do math and reading together. We’ve also started to do free time together. Some of the guys on the basketball team bring a few of the kids outside and teach them how to play basketball, and the chess players teach them to play chess.”
 

Anusha shared that since the start of “Power Hour,” ten Upper School students visit Lowell Elementary every week and rotate according to their schedules to allow flexibility. The experience has been impactful for both the Bush Upper School students and the Lowell Elementary students, who have built strong connections with one another through the program.

“There’s been such great relationships formed,” Anusha said. “Two weeks ago, a couple of the regular Bush volunteers couldn’t make it, and all the little kids wondered where they were and why they didn’t come this week. It means more to the little kids for us to show up than we realized.”

Anusha attests to seeing a tremendous improvement in the Lowell students’ grades, reading capabilities, and confidence. She hopes the program continues long after she graduates because of the positive impact it’s had on the students, tutors, and the faculty at Lowell Elementary.

“I’ve been working consistently with one girl since last year and she wasn’t able to read that well,” Anusha said. “Now, she reads fluently with me. It’s been super awesome to build up her confidence.”

There are several other student-led groups thriving around Bush, making a difference in their communities through philanthropy, trust, and mutual support. Another Bush Upper School student group led by Samuel C. ’27, Kate O. ’27, and Avery M. ’27, are working on an Urban Forestry project with Greenspace Seattle. Tessa D. ’26, has collaborated with the Lower School Service Club and Ridwell on a recycling project for Halloween candy wrappers.

Friday, November 15, Cam G. ’25 and Phanuel W. ’25 have organized a service project for the boys’ basketball team at All Pilgrims Church in Capitol Hill to prepare and serve lunch to unhoused teens at their community lunch. Cam and Phanuel have arranged for the boys’ basketball team to engage in a service project together to integrate service into existing structures.