“So what did you do after school this week?” a Harriton student asks her friend.

“I baked cookies for a soup kitchen, packaged toys for child cancer patients living at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and tutored a middle-school student at Bethel Academy. It was an awesome experience.”

If you are wondering who partakes in such charitable events during the weekends or even during the week, you can find many students that do so in the Harriton Service League—a club dedicated to serving the community.

The Harriton Service League has a rich history. It has been in place for 54 years, ever since the school opened in 1958. Originally named the Girls Service League, a business education teacher named Anita Taylor started the all-female club, and members were elected by their classmates and teachers to do such projects as throwing a party for children in the Methodist Orphanage.

In 1976, former Latin teacher Mrs. O’Neill changed the name from the Girls Service League to the Harriton Service League. Additionally, as the Aurora attests, “This year, in keeping with the Equal Rights Amendment, we were pleased to welcome men into the Harriton Service League.” The Harriton Service League has enjoyed a healthy stream of boys and girls ever since.

The six officers, Grace Hagan, Jack Fenton, Reed Smith, Jessica Vitale, Mackenzie Adams, and Samantha Kerstein, hold meetings on the first Wednesday of every month to inform people about new service opportunities for the month. New people are always welcome. The Main Line community and students inside Harriton can alert the HSL to new service projects by emailing an officer, or the club sponsor, Mr. Fritz, who can then post them as official HSL events on his eBoard.

Some service opportunities serving the wider community are based inside Harriton; others are off-site. HSL members volunteer to guide parents around the school during teacher conferences. They have staffed blood drives and the college fairs in the fall and spring, and they will lead members of the Harriton Class of 1963 on a tour of the new school building in May. The 5th Annual Adam Spector Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Research Walk to Win, held on April 13, attracted both HSL volunteers and hundreds of community members.

HSL members also go outside the Harriton community to tutor middle and elementary school students at Bethel Academy or volunteer in multiple ways at Inglis House, which provides programs and services for people with physical disabilities.

In yet another option, members choose to get involved in student-run events that may meet a few times a year. Sydney Handel’s K’hobz for Hearts (donating clothing to a Moroccan village), Nina Spitofsky’s Soup Kitchen Project (baking for St. John’s Soup Kitchen in Norristown) or Jared’s Box (started by former Harriton students Lauren Berenbaum and Victoria Zuzelo to package toys for kids with cancer at CHOP) are all opportunities to meet new people and make the world a better place.

When asked why students should join HSL, Jack Fenton, a senior officer of HSL, replied, “They will be able to help us assist those that need help the most. Everyone has a duty to better the world, and via community service organizations, one can realize this duty and make a lasting difference on the life of someone else.”

Jack has been in HSL for four years, and he reports that since his freshman year, along with an increase in club membership, more and more people are asking him what they can do to make a difference in their community. “For people who have never done service before, I would ask them to just try it out and see if they like it. I am sure they will,” he says.

Many students who participate in the club are motivated by the desire to help their community. Others also admit that they hope to improve their college applications or complete some community service credits for IB. But whatever the reason, joining the Harriton Service League seems to be only beneficial, as it targeted towards assisting people from cancer patients and Moroccan families to Bethel students and people with Hodgkins lymphoma. Moreover, taking part in such a service may even help you.