Focus on the SLO® Social Responsibility Department

As one of the pillars of the SABIS^® Educational System™, the SABIS Student Life Organization^® (SLO^®) plays an important role in educating and developing well-rounded individuals and future leaders. Through eight departments, the SLO^® helps students develop personally and become active community members who possess strong leadership skills, ethics, and moral values.

The SLO^® Social Responsibility Department is one of the departments that helps students develop these skills and qualities. The goal of the SLO^® Social Responsibility Department is to instill and develop students’ “social responsibility,” in other words their awareness that all individuals have a responsibility to give back to their community and make the world a better place. Read on to learn about some of the amazing initiatives that SABIS^® students have undertaken!

*SLO^® Social Responsibility prefects at Collegiate Charter School of Lowell pose for a picture*

With poverty and hunger prevalent in many societies around the world, it should come as no surprise that a number of SABIS^® schools direct their social responsibility efforts at alleviating the suffering caused by hunger. The SLO^® at the International School of Choueifat – Koura in Lebanon organized a food drive on October 16, 2018, in which parents, students, and friends gathered over 700 kg (1500+ lbs.) of food items to be distributed to underprivileged families in North Lebanon. The SLO^® Social Responsibility Department at the International School on the Rhine (ISR), a SABIS^® licensed school in Germany, organized a food drive for their local food bank, with SLO^® prefects collecting food items from students and parents and working together to load the food bank’s truck with several boxes of goods. In the U.S., the Collegiate Charter School of Lowell’s (Collegiate) SLO^® Social Responsibility Department collected around 656 lbs. (297 kg) of food items in November and donated them to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank.

*ISR SLO^® prefects load food bank truck with items collected from their food drive*

A number of SABIS^® schools decided to tackle a different aspect of social responsability and focused their efforts on contributing to environmental issues in their communities. In Lebanon, three SABIS^® schools worked together in September and organized a day to clean up the beachfront in the area of Kaslik. Students helped pick up trash and sort it into various recyclable materials. All this was done using only environmentally friendly and recyclable material such as cloth bags and non-latex gloves. In October, Collegiate in the U.S. also carried out a clean-up day in which prefects cleaned up trash and debris around the school and on campus.

*SLO^® prefects from* SABIS^® *schools in Lebanon clean up a local beach*

Contributing to environmental issues in their communities took a different direction on the African continent, where students at SABIS^® International School – Runda in Kenya acquired a better understanding of the importance of ecological balance. Students visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Reserve and heard stories of the elephants that had been rescued from the brutality of poachers and human-wildlife conflict. After hearing the stories, students were deeply moved and had a better understanding of their role in preserving their country’s wildlife and finding a human-wildlife balance.

SABIS^® *Runda students learning about their role in preserving their country’s wildlife*

Social responsibility also fueled a number of other initiatives across the network, where students looked for ways to give back to children less fortunate than themselves. At SABIS^® International School – Adma in Lebanon, SLO^® prefects joined the Lebanese Red Cross for their annual holiday celebration of “One Child, One Gift” in which they collected and helped distribute toys to orphaned children at Christmas. At Collegiate in the U.S., the SLO^® Social Responsibility Department organized a “Coats for Kids” campaign, where they collected used coats and donated them to underprivileged children in the area. At the International School of Choueifat – Amman in Jordan, students raised USD 210,000 for the Al Hussein Society for Social Care and the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), which helps provide treatment for children with cancer. In Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz International Schools – Al Sulaimaniah organized a Willy Wonka event to raise money in support of the Sanad Organization Center for children with cancer.

*SLO^® prefects from Collegiate promote their latest social responsibility efforts in their school to drive donations*

A number of schools focused on helping another vulnerable group in their communities: the elderly. At the Leila C. Saad School El-Metn in Lebanon, the SLO^® Social Responsibility Department organized a community service visit to “Helmona,” an elderly home in Bzebdine. The prefects warmly greeted each elder with big smiles and distributed homemade sweets they had prepared. In Kurdistan, the International School of Choueifat – Sulaimani raised funds for the Suleimaniah Elderly Care Center. The funds were used to buy electrical heaters, carpets, TVs, and clothing for the elderly.

Through the SABIS Student Life Organization^® Social Responsibility Department, students in SABIS^® schools learn the importance of contributing to and making a difference in their communities. By developing a sense of social responsibility, students are able to make valuable contributions to helping make the world a better place. To learn more about SLO^®, visit sabis.net.