Oak Knoll has a culture of service which is based on its identity as a Roman Catholic, Holy Child School. Responding to the Christian call to justice, Oak Knoll challenges all students to recognize and respond to the needs of others.
As a joint project, students in both Lower and Upper Schools support Bridges, an organization in Summit that serves homeless people in Manhattan, Newark and Irvington. On five Saturday mornings during the school year, Lower School students provide bag lunches, which they have packed in personally hand-decorated lunch bags. Upper School students serve the lunches to families at an emergency shelter in Newark. After lunch, the students provide arts and crafts, games and, if it’s the end of the month, host a birthday party for the sheltered children.
Lower School
Following Cornelia Connelly’s advice of "step by step," Lower School children are introduced to a variety of age appropriate community service projects in their religion classes. Following is a sample of these projects:
- Homeless Solutions: Sixth graders and their teachers prepare and serve dinner once a month at a shelter in Morris County. All students contribute by donating non-perishable foods and fundraising for other supplies.
- Power of the Pen and Crayon: Students write notes and create drawings to send to retired Sisters of the Holy Child, service men and women, and senior citizens.
Upper School
The Upper School service program emanates from theology classes where students learn about their responsibility for "others." Although community service is not required, all students keep service portfolios in which they keep service logs and also reflect on their service goals and experiences. Campus ministry serves as a clearing house and referral system for service opportunities which are communicated by student leaders at assemblies and by email. A sample of some ongoing service programs are:
- Tutoring programs at St. Rose of Lima School, Newark, and Elizabethport Project in Summit
- Monthly trips to the Community FoodBank, Hillside
- Clowning Ministry – seventh and eighth graders learn to "clown" and bring laughter and parables to seniors and youngsters
- Special Olympics Program — “Get into Our Game”
- Habitat for Humanity
- Summer Enrichment Program at Sacred Heart School, Jersey City
- Susan G. Komen North Jersey Affiliate activities
Campus ministry also coordinates a Service Day each year in the Upper School on which all students and teachers leave campus and spend the day in service to others. In May, 2008, students visited fifteen different sites from soup kitchens to a hospice, from Meals on Wheels to our Holy Child Middle School in Manhattan. After returning to campus, students spend about an hour reflecting on their experiences.