During an assembly for the lower school, Director of Service Learning Ms. Jini Loos asked the boys if anyone knew what she did at Haverford. One lower school boy raised his hand right away.
“I know, I know,” an anonymous lower school student eagerly said. “You’re in charge of kindness for the whole school!”
Ms. Loos would not put it any other way.
“It’s been a pleasure to serve as a conduit for good things in our community and in our world,” Ms. Loos said.
When Ms. Loos first arrived, the school had no formal service learning program. When a Haverford family funded a feasibility study, she spent two years researching whether the school could build one, and in 2003, she and a colleague opened the Service Learning Center. From there, she turned her ideas into reality. Students begin service in pre-Kindergarten so that by the time they leave the lower school, they already understand how they can help change the world for the better.
Most of that work came down to one belief: service is not the same as charity. She wanted to get rid of the idea of “us [volunteers] and them [in need].” The goal, in her words, was a hand up rather than a hand out.
“You don’t have to be anything but yourself to help others,” Ms. Loos said.
For some students, the first thing they will remember about Ms. Loos is candy. It started years ago when her own kids asked for an afternoon snack. Since then, she has kept treats around for students. All she asked in return was a good morning or a thank you. Plenty of those quick visits turned into friendships over the years.
“I take from you as much as I ever give to you guys,” Ms. Loos said. “You’re the ones who are young, and you’re the ones who have the ideas and the energy.”
Service became Ms. Loos’s life by chance. She spent eight years in art school studying psychology and hoped to become an art therapist, but during her training, she realized she could not separate herself from the pain her clients were carrying. For this reason, she set herself a simpler goal: to help people in the world, even though she had no idea what that would look like. Years later, she says the universe placed her at Haverford, where she could help people every single day.
“The students this year are a special group—full of ideas and more than willing to do the work.”
-Ms. Jini Loos
After her departure, Ms. Loos wants the service board to keep opening itself up to new people and new possibilities and to remember that they have the power to help others.
“The students this year are a special group—full of ideas and more than willing to do the work,” Ms. Loos said.
Next year, Mr. Cloran will take over the program. He is not a stranger to it. For the past two decades, he has seen the impact of Ms. Loos’s work, as all three of his sons went through Haverford’s various service programs.
Mr. Cloran’s parents showed him the value of lending a hand through words and their actions, and his 90-year-old mother still teaches him what service means today. His faith-first community has taught him that “to whom much is given, much is expected.” He also credits his wife for sharing that same spirit and pushing him to keep being kind to others.
“While I know I cannot fill her very big shoes, I will do my best to keep her spirit of service and generosity alive and well,” Mr. Cloran said.
What he hopes to hold onto is harder to measure than any program.
“I hope to carry forward the aura that Ms. Loos brought to everything she did. Her smile, warmth, passion for service, and equally important, her commitment to learning, are all qualities I hope to maintain and model,” Mr. Cloran said.
Ms. Loos’s final advice for Mr. Cloran is simple.
“Create a welcoming space,” Ms. Loos said to Mr. Cloran, “listen with an open heart to whoever comes through the door, so they can learn how they too can make a difference, not just for other people, but in their own lives.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.