Ann Manu
Makerspace and Service Learning Officer

Service Learning at Lincoln Community School is a reflective journey where students connect their interests and academic knowledge to the world. Through these connections, students enhance their self-awareness by investigating and creating meaningful impacts in their community.

Our goal is for service learning work to build empathy and connection with those we are partnering with and to have a positive, meaningful impact. We are able to meet those goals through the approach of investigating, planning, taking action, and reflection. We start with ourselves (what we know, what we are interested in, and the skills we have), then expand to the world around us and throughout come back to ourselves (what have we learned, how have we grown and what can we continue to do).

It is embedded in the curriculum with units comprising a service learning element at all grade levels – ECC to Grade 12. In addition to service in the classroom, students have opportunities to engage in activities in the After School Activity (ASA) program and Middle School and High School Clubs. Middle School and High School students also participate in service learning as part of the IB Programme. We have three avenues that work together to provide a variety of experiences:

Action/Service as Action/CAS Service

Aim: To help students to grow holistically by encouraging them to participate in IB aligned experiences that support their personal development, global citizenship and understanding of the world.

Who is responsible:  

• Secondary Principal
• PYP, MYP and DP Coordinators
• Service Learning Assistant

What this looks like:

• Students initiating their own experiences
• In-built service learning activities within the curriculum
• Sustainable impact and reflections
  Working with the supervisor

2026 AISA Oustanding CommunityEngagement Experience Award

In 2026, this award was presented to Samaira De (LCS Class of 2026) for her 2 service projects.

• Plastic Extrusion – Samaira designed and built her own plastic extrusion machine, capable of transforming plastic waste into durable plastic lumber that resembles wood. She also developed a renewable energy source using parabolic dishes to power aspects of this work, and extended her impact by mentoring children who collect plastic waste for income – teaching them how to build extrusion machines and convert Plastic into valuable materials for themselves.
• Ecofem – Together with her team, Samaira created opportnities for women in the community to learn vocational skills as a pathway to sustainable income, introducing them to the use of recycled plastic within their trades, integrating environmental sustainability with economic empowerment.

Clean Drinking Water

Another Class of 2024 student, Ridaan Gupta, worked on solutions that improve water quality in a cost effective way. His research has led to a system that takes impure river water, heats it using solar power causing evaporation and then condensation to leave water with far fewer impurities.

He went on to successfully install this system in a farming community in the Wenchi Municipality of the Bono Region. Water that was tested after installation showed a significant improvement in quality from a total dissolved solids rating of 150 down to a rating of around 30. To put that into context the World Health Organization standard for drinking water is a rating below 50.

Service education builds leadership skills and global citizenship competency and LCS is proud to develop these skills in our students often starting with a student passion and ending with a local collaboration. Watch the LCS blog to read more service learning success stories.