On November 25, 26 & 27, a group of our Wells high school students attended the 12th Annual ServICE Conference at Berkeley International School. The ServICE conference is a collaborative, student-led event organized by international schools in Bangkok. The aim of the conference is to inspire, connect and empower students to take appropriate and effective service action to benefit their communities and the environment.
The conference provides students with opportunities to share and learn from each other about experiences and successful projects engaging with service learning in their respective schools and communities. The conference provides a stage for various adult and student keynote speakers to share their passions, “How-To” sessions for students wishing to teach others based on their experiences, and networking opportunities to learn from NGOs sharing projects across Thailand. Students are also given the opportunity to collaborate and plan future student-led inter-school service learning projects.
On the first day of the conference, students attended service trips, known as Burst Your Bubble (BYB) Trips. Our students visited various organizations, including The Man That Rescues Dogs, Second Chance Bangkok, Ruth Center and Wastegetable. During the conference, students listened to inspirational keynote speakers, engaged in icebreaker activities and games, attended How-To workshops, and collaborated in discussions with students from other schools.
A few of our student leaders in our American Sign Language (ASL) Club, Risa Takahashi, Franny Pandya, and Zara Jambusarwalla (Class of 2024) led a How-To workshop to spread awareness about ASL and talk about their club mission and accomplishments.
All of the students left the conference feeling inspired and empowered, which is the goal of ServICE. It was energizing to interact and collaborate with peers from other schools. Wells would like to thank Berkeley for their exceptional job in hosting the conference, as well as the teacher advisors for their engagement and support with this event.
We are eager to see how these students will turn their inspiration from the conference into action, and how they will continue to make a positive difference in their school and local community!
