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Community Involvement
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Townsend Harris High School @ Queens College
Abraham Lincoln High School
Townsend Harris High School @ Queens College
Flushing, NY |
| School Statistics |
| Total Enrollment: |
1,093 |
| Type of School: |
Public, Grades 9-12 |
| Location of School: |
Urban |
| Demographics: |
White: 45%
Asian: 32%
Latino: 9%
African American: 6%
American Indian/Alaskan: 6%
Other: 6% |
| Free and Reduced Lunch: |
35% |
| Computers: |
Desktops: 178
Laptops: 25
Handhelds: 2 |
Not many schools have made the kind of commitment and connection that Townsend Harris High School has made to its community. Located on the campus of Queens College, the school is anchored by the Ephebic Oath—a pledge students make to help others and to leave their community better than they found it. That pledge begins first at the school where upperclassmen serve as mentors to incoming freshmen and are regular participants in programs for younger children.
All students must serve at least 10 hours of community service each year, and they do so in a variety of ways in the community. While some high schoolers tutor elementary school children, others offer companionship to the elderly. Creative teens give free beauty makeovers to nursing home residents as part of the school's Glamour Gals program.
Even after students leave Townsend Harris High, the instilled sense of giving back to the community remains. In fact, at the school's annual Founder's Day Celebration, alumni return to lead community service workshops.
On the academic side, the high school's leaders have forged a strong, collaborative relationship with Queens College. The two institutions regularly share teachers, students, and ideas. For the past three years, the high school has run Dialogue of the Imagination, a humanities program that stresses collaboration among students and teachers from the high school and the college. The partnership is also apparent in the yearlong humanities course for high school seniors that Townsend Harris teachers and Queens College professors team-teach. In addition to the courses, the high school's seniors have full college library privileges and access to the campus. In turn, Queens College students get internship experience working at the high school.
Townsend Harris students leave their high school with a different allegiance than their peers at other high schools. Their allegiance is not only as alumni of the school, it's as members of a community. They leave armed with a mission and a drive to improve their cities, states, and their world, one community at a time.
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