Cultivating Community

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 leadership, community service, and initiative culture that fosters personal growth,  social responsibility, and positive change. Twenty-two students at Bush 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 Community Engagement Center is a program  that was hatched by a group of teachers on the  DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) committee  last year,” said Susanne Eckert, Upper School  history faculty. “We pitched the idea to the senior  leadership team, who gave the green light to it.  I then worked with Eva F. ’26, Reya G. ’26, and  Anusha Sharma ’25, 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.” 

 

In November 2024 Upper School students  volunteered at World Relief, a humanitarian  organization that aids refugee families in need.  This project was arranged by Upper School student  Kiran B. ’26 and alum Ben Pryde ’12, who oversees  a nonprofit 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 massive difference at other schools in the community. Every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30  p.m., students meet at Lowell Elementary School  for “Power Hour,” a tutoring program that has  provided extra reading and math assistance to  Kindergarten through Fifth Grade students for the  last two years.  

“We send about ten students weekly,” said Anusha. “They engage with the younger students, and we do  math and reading together. We’ve also started to  spend our 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.”  

 

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, also explaining that the Bush students  rotate weekly according to their schedules to  allow flexibility. “A couple of the regular Bush  volunteers couldn’t make it (one week), and all  the little kids wondered where they were and why  they didn’t come that week. It means more to the  little kids for us to show up than we realized.” 

 

Anusha attested to seeing a tremendous  improvement in the Lowell students’ grades, reading capabilities, and confidence. Because  of its positive impact on the students, tutors,  and faculty at Lowell Elementary, she hopes the  program continues long after she graduates.  

 

Several other student-led groups thriving  around Bush are 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 is working on an urban forestry  project with Green Seattle Partnership. Tessa D.  ’26 has collaborated with the Lower School Service  Club and community organization Ridwell on a recycling project for Halloween candy wrappers. 

 

Also in November 2024, Cam Glaser ’25 and Phanuel Wodaje ’25 organized a service project  for the boys’ basketball team at All Pilgrims  Church in Capitol Hill to prepare and serve lunch  to unhoused teens. Cam and Phanuel arranged  for the boys’ basketball team to engage in a  service project to integrate service into existing  structures.  

 

“These projects are not easy to develop,” Susanne  said. “Students have had to build relationships  with partner organizations, coordinate times,  educate our community about the project, and  recruit peers to participate. I am really proud of  the work of the Community Engagement Center  leaders, and I hope that their work will slowly  build a stronger culture of stewardship and  responsibility to something bigger than ourselves  and our immediate needs—and joy in discovering  purpose and passion that comes from being  useful to others.”