Choosing Service

On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, our community came together for an educational chapel event that felt both timeless and deeply personal. Unlike most sorting ceremonies, this one wasn’t about houses, groups, or even teams - it was about how each of us wants to serve. For more than 50 years, Chatham Hall’s Service Leagues have been a defining feature of school life. In a 1972 handbook, they were described as a way to “foster in its members a genuine concern for others and a willingness to be part of contemporary life.” That vision continues today, providing every student with the opportunity to develop civic responsibility, compassion, and purpose through service.

Opening Chapel: A Call to Action
Our morning began with Chaplain Barksdale introducing us to Matthew West’s video Do Something, which challenged us to consider an essential question: “If I don’t do something, who will?” This question set the tone for the morning, reminding us that service begins with choice and action.

We then heard gathering words from Anushree A. ’27, who shared a reflection from Mahatma Gandhi: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” This was followed by Scarlet D. ’29, who offered the morning collect, encouraging us to meet the day with love, courage, and compassion.

Ms. Emma Liss ’19 reminded us that service comes in many forms—through faith, activism, philanthropy, or quiet daily acts of care—and that it connects us to a global tradition of changemakers.

Next, student leaders spoke about their own service journeys and why their league holds meaning for them.

Throughout these presentations, poems and quotes—from Emily Dickinson to Robert Ingersoll to Alberto Rios—wove together a reminder that service is both personal and universal.

Guided by Ms. Frankie Beyer, our community paused for a meditation on how we each feel called to serve. Through silence and breath, we considered whether we are drawn to bring joy to campus life, deepen our spiritual practices, or extend compassion outward into the wider community.

Finally, everyone had the opportunity to visit Service League stations and officially select the league where they will devote their energy this year.

Reflecting the diversity of our community, we ended with a prayer of renewal and courage, asking for strength to persist in good deeds and acts of service: Holy One. We have gathered in your many names. May your Spirit guide us; may your Spirit renew us; may your Spirit strengthen us, so that we will be strong in faith, courageous in witness, persistent in good deeds and acts of service. Amen!

This annual tradition reminds us that service isn’t an add-on at Chatham Hall—it’s who we are. Whether through laughter at a school dance, quiet moments of prayer, or lending a hand in our town, each act of service strengthens our community and helps us live more fully into our purpose.