School Community

Building Community
From student governance to community service, our students are deeply engaged in activities that ask them to be good stewards of our school and citizens of our community.

Student Service
YIHS students complete, at minimum, 54 hours of service outside of school time. Student volunteer at local events and organizations, help out neighbors, and help run the school.
I remember scrambling to fundraise for the school, cleaning the hallways, and meeting with my peers to discuss the school’s future. now that I’m supposedly “all grown up”, I’ve realized that not only did YIHS provide me with an excellent education, but it also taught me some invaluable life skills.

Jeff M.
YIHS Graduate
Maintaining the School
YIHS does not have a janitor. Students have daily cleaning tasks and periodically parents and students perform larger-scale maintenance and beautification of the school.

Student Fundraising
Students collaboratively organize dances, dinners, and other events that raise over $12,000 every year. Our Community Partnership Program brings the community together to support these efforts.

Morning Meditation
We start each day with 10 minutes of silent, guided meditation. We find that it provides a way for students and staff to share a collective experience while respecting everyone’s individual existence. For more information about our Meditation program, please watch this introductory video.

School Governance
Students, along with parents and faculty, sit on the Administrative, Personnel, Curriculum, Development, and Finance committees. Students also have positions on the Board of Trustees. Students’ voices are central to school policy discussions and decisions.

Through service work, student meetings, cleaning and maintaining the school facility, attending committee meetings, and organizing fundraisers, students learn that their contributions have value and that their voices and actions matter. At Youth Initiative, we often say that we don’t teach to the test, we teach for life!