Faith in Action
An important part of the religious formation of students at San Carlos School is the focus on Catholic social teaching, social justice, and responding to the call of the Gospel. Students learn to spread the love of Christ by being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world by sharing their blessings.
Each grade level plans and implements a service project to aid in the work of a community agency or parish during the school year. Projects specifically support a diverse range of needs to introduce students to the many opportunities of giving in which they can participate once they graduate from San Carlos School.
Projects by Grade Level
TK & Kindergarten
Transitional Kindergarten students have participated in the “HUG project”, made an Angel tree for those needing prayers, routinely made cards for families battling cancer in our community, and hidden painted “Love Rocks” to spread love throughout the school and community.
Kindergarten projects range from making placemats for “Meals on Wheels” to contributing to “The Crayon Initiative” to assisting “Cleaning the Earth”.
First Grade
First Grade held a “Teddy Bear Drive” for the Monterey Fire Department.
Second Grade
Students chose a person or family in their community to offer a bag or basket of prayers and other special items. Students shared their experiences of “giving" with their class.
Third Grade
Students participate in a beach clean up and analyze the items for data collection. They use what they learn about ecology to teach the rest of the school!
Fourth Grade
Students made blankets from tied fleece for comfort and warmth and sock toys for play for the animals at our local SPCA!
Fifth Grade
Students have a bake sale to raise money and seek donations to fully fund Christmas bags for over 70 people at Sunstreet Centers in Marina. Their focus is on families in need for Christmas. Students collect, organize, “shop”, wrap, and deliver two truck loads of items to the shelter to help others.
Sixth Grade
“Box of Joy” provides gifts to children in need from Guatemala, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Along with sharing the joy of Christmas, the program plants seeds of hope through the Gospel. Sixth Graders gave presentations to the school to promote the program, collected the boxes from each grade level, and organized and helped prepare the shipment.
Paper cranes were also folded by students and given to local hospital patients to promote peace. This project was inspired by the novel, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, to fold 1,000 cranes as a class.
Seventh Grade
Students made fleece blankets as gifts for children who were seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. The blankets were lovingly created by our student “blanketeers.” Blankets were taken to JoAnne’s Fabrics, which distributed them to children's cancer wards in local hospitals.
Eighth Grade
Eighth Graders vote at the beginning of the school year for their focus. Past projects included “Kindness Rocks” for Santa Rosa and Paradise, CA; schoolwide book collection with personalized bookplates benefiting “Guilianna’s Playroom” in Texas for at-risk families through “The Live Greater Foundation”; preparing bagged lunches for “Loaves and Fishes"; collection of winter items and non-perishable foods for “Dorothy’s Place” in Salinas; “Prayer Bouquets” for those battling serious illness in the SCS community; and “Wash to Serve” car wash to benefit the American Cancer Society, Veteran's Resouce Center in Marina, and St. Theodore (a Catholic School burned in Palisades Fire.)
Staff
For many years, the school staff has participated in “Relay For Life”. We honor all our family members, friends, and school community members in this outreach while raising funds for the “American Cancer Society”.
Student and Staff-Inspired Projects
Each year, student leaders step up and request help for communities and events close to their hearts in addition to our planned service projects. Past impromptu service projects have included: in-school recycling programs with money donated to adult care centers, “Save the Elephants”, “Socks for the Homeless”, Military care packages, and classroom libraries.
Student Council
Student Council members are called upon to act as tour guides during our school open houses and to assist with other schoolwide assemblies and events. Students volunteer as speakers at all local parishes to kick off our annual Catholic Schools Week Celebration in January. The Council has also identified local charities in need and has organized fundraisers to serve them.
Schoolwide and Parish Projects
San Carlos Catholic School commits as a school community to a Thanksgiving Food Drive. The goal is to fill the principal’s office with bags of groceries so that she cannot reach her desk. Food collected is distributed to all food cupboards on the Monterey Peninsula (St. Francis, St. Angela Merici, San Carlos, Loaves and Fishes, St. Jude).
Our school community also supports Catholic Relief Services (CRS) during Lent, and the parish group Care for Creation with Saturday Beach Clean-ups as available.
