In St. Paul’s School, we believe that education is more than textbooks and classroom lessons; it’s a transformative journey that goes beyond the school walls and helps build global citizens. As pupils embark on their educational journey, and especially during their IB years, community service initiatives become great opportunities to put in practice school values such as Kindness, Inclusion and Adventure.
For Fundação St. Paul’s, engaging in acts of service not only benefits the communities they are part of, but also plays a pivotal role in nurturing well-rounded, empathetic, and socially responsible individuals. While our scholars are also greatly benefited by the generosity of our school community, they are also agents of transformation in the society. One of the ways to turn this into reality is to participate in community service projects, and St. Paul’s offers a range of different activities of this sort.
Our scholars in Lower 6, Mariana and Enzo, joined “Mãos na Massa” – a pupil led organisation which mission is to improve the lives of people with disabilities living in underprivileged areas of São Paulo. To do this, pauleans help build or renovate homes which are unsafe or unfit for them.
Enzo shared that he first heard about the Mãos na Massa in 2022, while still enrolled in the Foundation’s preparatory course. “The project’s importance and relevance sparked my curiosity, and I’ve wanted to learn more about it ever since. As a St. Paul’s’ pupil in 2023, I became one of its volunteers, and it was tremendously rewarding to see the impact that Mãos na Massa had on the lives of numerous socially vulnerable families in São Paulo. The day-to-day operation of the Project requires a great deal of dedication, and many of our weekends are taken by this work.”
Another of our scholars, Gregório, who is now in Upper 6, got to participate in a work shadowing experience in the Red Cross last year. This was a feature offered by the school, in connecting 6th form pupils with organisations to provide them with a taster of different careers.
“During my work shadowing, I had the opportunity to meet extremely qualified professionals from different departments, such as social projects, Reestablishment of Family Ties (RLF), donations and Marketing. My work had a diverse character and involved different processes, from assembling spreadsheets and reports to direct interaction with Red Cross beneficiaries.”
He also adds that volunteering for the Red Cross was a dream come true. “I have always dreamed of being a part of the change and, through organisations of international relevance, I got to contribute to making the world a better place.” Thanks to this experience, Gregorio started his own social project at school, to collect donations for human aid institutions, such as the Red Cross.
Aside from these two experiences, we also have scholars participating in the One Goal project – another pupil led organisation that, every month, targets a specific social issue – and Girl Up, which focuses on equity for girls and women in spaces where they’re unheard of underrepresented.