MONTGOMERY PLAN

Today the term "Montgomery Plan" is synonymous with community service at Burroughs. Montgomery Plan refers to an active student committee as well as to the guidelines for recognition on a student's transcript. Community service is entirely voluntary at our school, and done on a student's own time; there is no requirement. In recent years, more than half of the senior class has met the Montgomery Plan guidelines and graduated with community service recognized on their high school transcripts. In addition, the total voluntary hours of community service for a graduating class has ranged from 8,000 to 11,000 hours - all contributed to the greater St. Louis area and completed outside of school. Most of the voluntary community service is arranged by the individual student and done in the summers or over school breaks. This results in a wide variety of charitable, educational, environmental and cultural institutions where Burroughs students have volunteered, ranging from the Muscular Dystrophy summer camp to the Science Center. See Volunteer Opportunities for more information.

The Montgomery Plan Committee is a student group that learns about and sponsors community service opportunities for young people. Students in any grade can participate. Meetings are held on Special Meeting Tuesdays (once a month) at 8 am in the Science Auditorium. The officers of the Montgomery Plan Committee are chosen by the faculty sponsors based on experience, leadership, and commitment to community service. At the committee meetings we discuss, evaluate and plan community service activities, collection drives, etc., and learn about local charitable organizations that use teenage volunteers. One meeting per year is dedicated to a volunteer opportunity fair, held on the third floor before assembly and open to all students. Attendance at the Montgomery Plan Committee meetings ranges from 20 to 40 students. See calendar for scheduled meeting times.

The Montgomery Plan Committee usually sponsors at least one group service experience each month; each activity is led by experienced members of the committee and participation is open to all grades. These community service activities include "chaperoning" dances for the developmentally disabled (SLARC), helping at "senior prom", being buddies and helpers at Special Olympics events, collecting for Old Newsboys' Day, participating in the AIDS Walk, tending urban gardens for Gateway Greening, weather-stripping the homes of the elderly poor, etc. Every year about 25% of the student body voluntarily participates in at least one of these weekend adventures, and many students participate in several. Each activity introduces our students to persons quite different from themselves and to an organization where a teenager can be a volunteer. See the calendar for scheduled events.

Two collection drives are usually sponsored by the committee each year, the Holiday Food Drive, to collect for two local food pantries and the Danna Drive, which is held in January and focuses on the needs of a particular charitable agency chosen by the student committee.

The annual field trip is also connected to the Danna Drive. We visit agencies which welcome teenage volunteers, such as Youth Emergency Service, St. Louis Crisis Nursery, and Food Outreach (AIDS). In 2002 ,for example, we visited the International Institute of St. Louis and delivered the books we had collected.

The distinguishing characteristics of the John Burroughs community service program (Montgomery Plan) are: it is a voluntary program; all of the community service activities, whether by individual students or in school-sponsored groups, take place outside of the school day, on weekends or in the summers; and to be recognized on the student's transcript, the community service must be performed in the greater St. Louis area.Because our community service program is voluntary, participation by a student will depend on his own initiative and his interests, as well as the time he has available. Our students are very active and may only have several weeks available in the summer for community service. The faculty sponsor serves as a resource for ideas and information about many agencies in the St. Louis area, including places one might volunteer only on weekends or evenings, or just for one or two weeks.

The Montgomery Plan Committee is a student committee which learns about and promotes volunteer opportunities for teenagers in our community, through meetings, publicity and activities. The committee does not place students in volunteer positions, but provides information about where teenage volunteers are needed. Students in any grade are welcome to participate in the community service activities.