Planned and organized by Knight Vision, Menlo’s Community Engagement (CE) club, CE Week kicked off with a sign-up fair in the Athletic Center where students learned about all of the community service opportunities available to them. Students filled the gym, visiting tables to learn about nonprofits and community service organizations selected by their fellow students who encouraged them to volunteer.

Organizations represented at the fair included Project Read, Palo Alto Art Center, Peninsula Humane Society, Lauren’s House, Fresh Approach, Sports Share, and more, offering students dozens of organizations to choose from that align with their own values and interests. While every student is required to earn 10 CE credits each year by participating in three unique community engagement experiences, Knight Vision’s leadership team made an extra effort to find causes their peers care about most. CE Week activities also included blanket-making for Project Linus and assembling snack bags for LifeMoves.

“A lot of people don’t realize that community engagement can be all kinds of service, including things you already like to do,” said Sydney ’24, Knight Vision’s co-president. “What I’ve been trying to do as a leader is to give people ways to fuse community service with their own passions, so it’s a fulfilling experience. I’m so fortunate I can go to a school like this and that I can do my part to serve the common good and participate in something that’s bigger than myself.”

For this year’s CE Week, Knight Vision made the decision to highlight Everytown, an organization dedicated to ending gun violence in America. Students chose to raise awareness about this organization because of the ongoing impact of gun violence in our country, especially after the recent mass shootings in Los Angeles and Half Moon Bay.

“We had a meeting about what the focus this year would be and it was just days after the incident in Half Moon Bay,” said Knight Vision member Cate ’24. “Gun violence and gun control is always an issue that you see on the news, but to have it happen that week in a place where we have all spent time, it made it more personal and even more relevant for us to do something now.”

Knight Vision encourages the Menlo community to support Everytown’s work. For more information about how to get involved, please email knightvision@menloschool.org