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Through community service, Menlo-Atherton High School students are learning about humility, reciprocity and accountability. Located in the P-5 portable classroom, students have made a headquarters on campus that serves as the central space for all things service.
On May 12, eight students from the school’s Service Learning Center were invited by state Sen. Josh Becker to be recognized on the Senate floor in Sacramento for their commitment to the club.
The Service Learning Center was created in 2017 by a group of M-A students who wanted to connect their peers to service opportunities with organizations in the community, said Lily Pellican, marketing lead of the club. Service learning is an educational experience that allows students to learn about civic engagement while serving the community’s needs.
“Service can be bipartisan,” said Andy Stuart, M-A teacher and club adviser. “Everyone can do service and feel good about it.”
Although everyone has the potential to serve, students in the club said it takes a certain privilege to volunteer.
“One issue we see with service is that we’re only reaching a very certain demographic of kids, who either have the time to do it, the transportation and the means to,” said club President Leah Collins.
Through service learning, students are working on bridging the gap between the affluent and underprivileged communities of Silicon Valley, said Collins.
Leaders in the club are aiming to make the experience available to all students by offering volunteering opportunities at local organizations. The club also hosts trips that extend beyond local communities, including to Costa Rica.
Impact of service learning
This year, students on the executive board of the Service Learning Center presented to the National Service Learning Conference in Minnesota about how service learning can be integrated into K-12 classrooms nationwide.
“Service learning teaches you certain life skills, like the principles of ethical and effective service that can help you throughout your life and how to be a more empathetic human,” said Pellican.
The members of the service club follow the ”Eight Principles of Ethical and Effective Service:” accountability, evaluation, learning and reflection, humility, respect and inclusion, reciprocity, preparation, and safety and wellbeing.
Pellican added that it’s important to give youth the exposure to service learning at a young age, when they’re able to learn at their highest potential. “When you become older, it becomes less easy for you to retain information. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” she said.
Audrey Majzun, a junior at M-A, joined the club in her sophomore year. Since joining the Service Learning Center, Majzun said she’s learned to get out of her comfort zone, build leadership skills and collaborate with her peers. This school year, she served on the executive board as the head of civic engagement.
Collins added that she finds her passion for service through the mutual exchange of gratitude between those she is serving with and the community being served. Pellican described this as a “deeply humanitarian feeling.”
Over the years, the club has grown to include over 20 different community service projects, including Care Bears, which aids migrant children at the US-Mexico border; Surfriders, an environmental club that hosts beach cleanups and more. Students also volunteer at Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, work in the Belle Haven Community Garden and have collaborated with Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public.
In the 2025-26 school year, M-A will also be offering a service class. “It’s about figuring out what drives you to do service, what makes you want to help, then going into specific ideas of how to plan and execute the service idea,” said Pellican. This follows the structure of the Service Learning Center, but will be in the format of a class.
“We want the class to be at its core, service learning and to be able to truly connect students in a formal and official service,” said Majzun.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article included an error in the year the Service Learning Center was created and misspelled the club advisor’s name. The article has been corrected.
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