Many of the students at Benet Academy choose to give back to their community through hours and hours of volunteer work. They make the effort to set aside time to volunteer despite the challenging academic atmosphere and the numerous sports, clubs and other extracurriculars that the school has to offer. Benet’s outreach program and local chapter of the National Honor Society organize and sponsor students in various projects; student government also takes a lead role in community service during the annual Christmas Drive, which benefits local families in need. A certain number of hours of community service is not a graduation requirement of the academy, yet this does not discourage students from volunteering in unique and meaningful ways outside the typical, school-sponsored channels.

Senior Allie Brewer volunteers at the Crown Family Playlab in the Field Museum in Chicago, where she works with young children from 2- to 6-years old. Over the summer, during a visit, she saw other teenagers working there and decided she wanted to spend part of her weekends volunteering there as well. She now volunteers twice a month for six-hour shifts at the museum. Brewer is also part of the Hinsdale Hospital Junior Board. As part of the board, she helps to fundraise for the children’s section of the hospital. Recently, she took part in a fashion show that was held to raise money needed for new equipment for the hospital.

Brewer has also been part of mission trips. Last spring, she went with a group of Benet students to Appalachia. This experience took her out of her comfort zone as she learned to put in insulation in a crawlspace and help build a porch. Last summer, Brewer traveled to Quito, Ecuador, to help open up free medical clinics in areas where people could not afford doctors. She worked directly with people, asking them what was wrong, making note of symptoms and handing out hygiene packs to families. “I love working with other people and being able to help them and give back to them,” said Brewer.

Juniors Bill Klump and Derek Garagiola also take time from their busy schedules to help out in their community. They work closely with Elizabeth Byers, Benet teacher and head of the outreach program, to take part in outreach-sponsored events. They volunteer both at St. Patrick’s Residence, a nursing and rehabilitation facility, in Naperville, and at Misericordia Home, a residential facility for those with mental and physical disabilities, in Chicago. They also tutor younger children at the Jonas E. Salk Elementary School in Bolingbrook.

Klump and Garagiola agree that they too are the beneficiaries from their volunteerism, not just the residents of St. Pat’s and Misericordia or the students at Jonas Salk. “It’s the stories that you come away with,” said Klump. “During Elizabeth Ann Seton’s toy drive, we got to wrap gifts, drive them out and see the looks on the families’ faces when they got their presents.” For Klump, his best experience comes from volunteering at St. Pat’s. “During happy hour, we get to play dominoes with the residents and hear stories of when they were younger.”

Junior Kirsten Moran is another example of a great volunteer. Like Klump and Garagiola, she also volunteers at Misericordia. She tutors underprivileged children at Aldersgate in Wheaton once a week, where helps the middle school and junior high kids, many of whom do not speak English as a first language, with their homework. She has also taken part in mission trips to St. Louis, Mo.; Greensborough, N.C.; and Phelps, Ky. While on these mission trips she has helped paint a house for a family whose home had been destroyed by fire and cleaned out garbage and brush in a neighborhood.

In North Carolina, Moran worked with a grandmother who had adopted three children with mental disabilities despite being physically disabled herself. This experience really touched her. “We’ve been given so much opportunity, going to Benet and living where we live. With mission trips, you get to go to other places and meet people who don’t have the same opportunities. It keeps you grounded, especially to see how much they appreciate it.”

These students who make a big difference through the work they do and the time they give are just four examples out of hundreds who do the same at Benet Academy.