At Joseph’s Coat, Cory Wu and Arjun Gokhale clear a fallen tree near the entrance (Stephen Ma). Naomi Chen repairs a sink at the Habitat for Humanity Restore (Thomas DeVore)

Columbus Academy adopted Service Day over 30 years ago, and on Friday, September 10, students, faculty, and parents continued the tradition. 

The day kicked off with guest speaker, Curtis Moody, who founded the Moody Nolan Architectural Firm, which has over  330 design citations and is the largest African American architectural firm in the country. The firm possesses offices in 11 cities and designs, builds, and donates a house to a family in need in each of those cities as a commitment to service.

After Mr. Moody’s presentation, all upper school students  traveled to 30 different sites, ranging from the Habitat for Humanity Restore to a neighborhood in Clintonville to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.  Rowen Lo packed food into boxes with his advisory at the foodbank. After attending his first Service Day event, Lo said he is “more motivated to help” others. “Such a small sacrifice can have such a great impact,” said Lo.

During the first Service Day at Academy, there were only 200 student volunteers, but this year, around 430 upper school students answered the call to service along with 49 advisors, parents, and staff, totalling more than 500 participants. 

We hope your Service Day experience will continue beyond CA’s annual day. Over 8,000 charities in Central Ohio would value student contributions. Please visit the Service Board’s website for suggestions.