“See yourself in others”
Important Dates
2025–2026 School Year
Clothing Drive .......................... Sept. 8 – 19
US Food Drive ...................... Sept. 29 – Oct. 13
MS Food Drive Sept. 25 – Oct. 16
Candy Drive .............................. Nov. 3 – 7
Feast of Sharing ............................. Nov. 20
McDonald’s Week ....................... Nov. 17 – 20
Gift Drive ........................... Dec. 2 – Dec. 17
Coat Drive ............................. Jan. 12 – 16
Blood Drive ................................ Feb. 25
MS Spring Basket Drive .................. March 5 – 26
US Spring Basket Drive .................. March 9 – 30
AUSTIN STREET DINNERS
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026
Thursday, April 2, 2026
COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS DEADLINES:
2025 Summer Hours: ........................ Sept. 5
5 Hours: .................................. Oct. 13
5 Hours: .................................. Jan. 20
5 Hours: ................................... April 6
President’s Service Award: .................... April 30
Final day to enter hours for the current school year is April 30.
COMMUNITY-ENGAGED LEARNING
St. Mark’s develops the habit of community involvement to awaken concern for those coping with hardship and to instill a lifelong commitment to service and advocacy. A meaningful program of mandatory community service will raise social awareness, develop the ability to communicate respectfully with all individuals, and teach sound leadership values and skills.
St. Mark’s distinguishes between community service and charity by emphasizing the educational, person-to-person nature of community service. Such service enables our students to play a beneficial role in the Dallas community, as well as in agencies serving special needs within the city. Students acquire knowledge and deeper understanding of their community through the presentations of experts, direct observation, and personal experience.
Upper School students are required to complete 15 hours of service per school year from Aug. 25 to Apr. 30. A minimum of five hours is required by Oct. 13. Five more are required by Jan. 20 (for a total of 10 hours) and the last five by April 6 (for a total of 15 hours). A student may choose to submit his 15-hour requirement early in the year to accommodate his schedule. Middle School students will participate in a class project in the fall or the spring.
Since the goal of the program is to foster empathy, develop an appreciation for a broad range of backgrounds and experiences, and to encourage students to step out of their traditional daily interactions, students will not receive community service credit hours for service at St. Mark’s, a private camp, church, synagogue, mosque, music/dance school, etc. unless they are directly involved in outreach through their organization with prior approval from the Community Service o ce.
REQUIREMENTS
• Grades 5-8: Participation in projects organized by the Middle School Community Service coordinators.
• Grades 9-12: Fifteen hours of service per school year. From Aug. 25 to Apr. 30.
• The year is divided into three periods. A minimum of five hours is required by Oct. 13, 2025. Five more are required by Jan. 20, 2026, and the last five hours are due by April 6 (for a total of 15 hours). Students may choose to complete and submit all 15 hours earlier than the due dates according to their own schedules.
• Students are reminded that community service is external to the School. Therefore, most service opportunities will occur after school hours or on weekends.
• Because the goal of this program is to open up new horizons, students will not receive community service credit for volunteering at St. Mark’s, a private camp, church, mosque, synagogue, temple, music/dance/riding school, sports clinics, etc. unless they are involved in service outreach through that organization. Service must reach those outside the organization membership and into the community, such as the Brendan Court ’06 Summer Enrichment Program carried out at school after hours and during the summer.
• Eagle Scout projects may be used to claim service hours, but only the portion involving direct work with the beneficiaries of the project count. Planning, traveling hours, etc. do not count. Boys may recruit friends and classmates.
• Professional internship hours do not qualify as service hours unless students are reaching out to a specific community and receive prior approval.
• St. Mark’s is a certifying organization for the national President’s Volunteer Service Award. The School orders awards for the students who qualify at the end of each school year. All hours count toward the award, including summer hours. Awards are given based on age category as determined by the organization. Apr. 30 is the last day to submit hours for the Service Award.
• Some projects and events are shared with The Hockaday School.
MOBILESERVE.COM
All hours are submitted through MobileServe.com. Students may sign up for projects o ered by the Community Service program via the MobileServe app. Students must request pre-approval for personal projects to ensure qualification. Students must keep a record of the community service projects they attend on their own. Getting hours approved involves these major steps:
• Entering the number of hours (the actual service hours at the event plus one hour for transportation).
• Describing their service. Which community did you serve? Which service did you provide?
• Using MobileServe, students may verify hours by providing a contact email/signature from the organization, a photograph, or geolocation. Two of these methods of verification are required for approval by the CS o ce.
• Checking the “Honor Principle” box.
HOURS DUE
Service requirements to be fulfilled between Aug. 25, 2025 and April 30, 2026
2025–2026 Due Dates:
Sept. 5
2025 Summer Hours
Oct. 13
Five hours minimum due
Jan. 20
Five hours due for a total of 10 hours
Apr. 6
Last five hours due for a total of 15 hours
Apr. 30
Hours due for President’s Volunteer Service Award
Apr. 30
Final day to enter hours for the current school year
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
HOMELESSNESS
Austin Street Center
The Stewpot
EDUCATION
Beacon Hill Tutoring
Chess For Humanity
United To Learn
Wesley Rankin
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Community Partners of Dallas
Feast of Sharing
Forward
Genesis Shelter
Genesis Thrift Shop
Habitat for Humanity
Jonathan’s Place
Music Healing
North Texas Food Bank
Rays of Light
St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store
The Jubilee Center
The Salvation Army
West Dallas Community Center
ENVIRONMENT
Backyard Bird Project
For The Love of the Lake
Texas Tree Foundation
Texas Conservation Alliance
THE BRENDAN COURT ’06 SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
The St. Mark’s Brendan Court ’06 Summer Enrichment Program is a three-week, tuition-free enrichment program for DISD Middle School boys who want to enhance their knowledge in literature, math, science, and social studies. In addition, students are exposed to workshops on computer programming, STEM-related topics, art projects, literature, and poetry. The program provides the opportunity to meet guests who share their expertise and leadership in the DFW area.
Students participating in the program also go on field trips that are both fun and educational.The goal of the program is not only to provide educational opportunities for middle school students, but also to allow St. Mark’s students to explore teaching.
DATES TO KEEP IN MIND
Sept. 12: Teaching and volunteer positions announced
Nov. 7: Deadline to apply for a teaching/volunteer position
Nov. 10-14: Interviews
Jan. 12-16: Teaching demonstrations
Jan. 30: Positions announced
June 2-19: Program dates
COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD
BENJAMIN STANDEFER ’26 & ARYAMAN LAHOTI ’26
Co-Chairs
DYLAN BOSITA ’27
Junior Vice-Chair
BOARD MEMBERS
SENIORS
Ekaksh Bansal
Weston Chance
Reagan Graeme
William Kozoman
Aryaman Lahoti
Andrew Liu
Ariyan Mishra
Benjamin Standefer
Aamir Tinwala
Ronen Verma
Kayden Zhong
JUNIORS
Guru Aroul
Sebastian Bank
Dylan Bosita
Cristian Duarte
Andrew Hofmann
Max Lee
Dylan Macktinger
Sean Madine
Sam Morse
Asher Ridzinski
Jack Shepro
SOPHOMORES
Cannon Beatey
Dexter Canham
Saketh Chebrolu
Benji Fleiss
JP Hanks
Bryan Li
Berkin Oral
Nicholas Petrikas
Will Thomson
Evan Yepuri
FRESHMEN
Osi Akudo
Brennan Bosita
Thomas Costa
Justin Macktinger
Sawyer Song
MIDDLE SCHOOL CO-CHAIRS
Nathan Aurora
Greyson Daniel
Axel Kennedy
FACULTY
JORGE CORREA
Director of Community Service | 214-346-8220 | correaj@smtexas.org
ISABEL CISNEROS
Assistant Director of Community Service | 214-346-8309 | cisnerosi@smtexas.org
LAUREN LOGAN
Middle School Coordinator | 214-346-8236 | loganl@smtexas.org
GREG CROOK
Middle School Coordinator | 214-346-8344 | crookg@smtexas.org
DR. KATHERINE ANSON
Co-Director of the Brendan Court ’06 Summer Program 214-346-8438 | ansonk@smtexas.org
Questions?
SMCommunityService@smtexas.org www.smtexas.org/communityservice
DID YOU KNOW?
More than 17,000 volunteer hours were approved in 2024–2025.
The economic value of of service provided in 2024–2025 was over $480,000.
40 Upper School students received the President’s Service Gold Award last year.
Upper School students partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build our 19th house this past year.
St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men for assuming leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world. To this end, the school professes and upholds certain values. These values include the discipline of postponing immediate gratification in the interest of earning eventual, hard-won satisfaction; the responsibility of defending one’s own ideas, of respecting the views of others and of accepting the consequences for one’s own actions; and an appreciation for the lively connection between knowledge and responsibility, privilege and the obligation to serve.