Finding Purpose

Since 2015, I’ve had the privilege of serving Chatham Hall in roles as varied as Riding Instructor, staff member in the Student and Community Life Office, and now league advisor. Along the way, I’ve discovered one of Chatham Hall’s most unique traditions: our Service Leagues, a program that provides every student with a meaningful way to give back. In my current role, I was offered the opportunity to oversee one of our three leagues, the Community Life Service League. Despite being on campus for a while, I wasn’t sure what this meant in terms of our overall approach to service. It was fascinating for me to learn that at Chatham Hall, students are allowed to choose how they would like to engage in service through three separate leagues. This means that every member of our community serves, and yet is ensured a way to serve that is meaningful to them.

At the heart of the leagues is student leadership. Each league is guided by a team of student leaders who shape priorities, plan activities, and inspire their peers to get involved. This student-driven approach ensures that service at Chatham Hall reflects the passions and values of the girls themselves.

Each fall, we hold a Chapel service dedicated to helping our students consider how they want to volunteer their time this year, specifically what calls them to serve in the most meaningful way. From the perspective of each of our leagues, we see opportunities for our students to express themselves, grow in the spaces where they serve others, and have a great deal of fun. The Community Life League, Spiritual Life League, and Student Life League draw students into off-campus activities and events, community service, and the pulse of our everyday campus life. Each offers them the opportunity to also explore their own social, spiritual, and community lives, building a future of self-awareness and community engagement.

Beyond the projects themselves, students gain confidence, leadership skills, and a deeper sense of purpose. Many alumnae share that their first leadership experience at Chatham Hall came through the leagues, where they learned how to listen, collaborate, and mobilize their community around causes that mattered to them.

 

The Spiritual Life League helps shape the liturgy for each chapel program while also leading initiatives that celebrate spirituality across our campus and community. From services like the International Day of Peace and Blessing of the Animals to outreach events such as Mission Valentine and the Community Egg Hunt, students have opportunities to explore and share their beliefs in impactful ways to serve. Last year, for example, our community created 542 valentines for Mission Valentine, an initiative started by the Spiritual Life League to show how much we care for our neighbors in Chatham.    

Beth Barksdale, our Chaplain, has led the Spiritual Life League since coming to Chatham Hall and continuously seeks service opportunities on and off campus to cultivate spirituality and demonstrate faith in action.  “A few years ago, the Spiritual Life League implemented touchstones on campus, contemplative spaces on campus that call you into prayerful meditation." In some ways, this led to the development of our Arboretum, an outdoor living sanctuary offering time and space for community members to step outside of the demands of daily life, to think and ponder, and develop an intentional way of living. Chaplain Barksdale shares, "Mary Oliver, a favorite poet of mine, invites us to consider the beauty of life in her poem, 'Summer.'  What do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life, she asks. I think this is a wonderful lens through which our Spiritual Life League operates, as we are always seeking ways to give life purpose and meaning.” Students often reflect that the Spiritual Life League provides them with a rare opportunity to explore their own beliefs while celebrating the traditions of others. Whether they are writing prayers for Chapel, planning an interfaith event, or simply supporting a friend in her spiritual practice, they find ways to make a difference as they connect with both their inner lives and the broader community. 

Student Life works closely with students to plan activities, dances, and events that bring joy to campus and support our entire community. This year, our Student Activity and Club Coordinator is an alumna from the Class of 2019. Emma Liss ’19 has brought great energy and works closely with our students to create meaningful activities and experiences, and then uses student volunteers to make these events a reality. Emma notes that,  “Advising the Student Life League allows me to connect with students through their own interests.” She continues, “I was given the opportunity to serve as Head of the Student Life League in my senior year at Chatham Hall, and it allowed me to have a hand in planning the ways in which my peers could spend their weekends. Now, as Student Activity and Club Coordinator, I get to collaborate with students to create a variety of activity offerings that help to keep their weeks fun and engaging.” Whether students are choosing to attend a movie night in the Niche, a trip to an amusement park, or our Halloween Mixer, they are making the choice to connect with their friends, classmates, and community. 

Emma shares, “The students who choose to be members of the Student Life League act as my ear to the ground, helping me to plan events and activities that they feel represent the wants and needs of all students.” Through this collaborative approach, the Student Life League ensures that every activity reflects the interests, energy, and spirit of the student body, fostering connection, fun, and a strong sense of community.

The Community Life League has a more traditional focus on community service, supporting our local communities in both Chatham and Danville. Before taking on this role, I had never organized service opportunities. Still, we quickly found that the most meaningful service is that which allows our students to develop relationships over time with the projects that we engage in. We have worked to identify local organizations with which we can partner year after year, in various ways, to enable our students to engage meaningfully in off-campus service. Additionally, this year's student leaders are looking to host a bake sale on campus to raise money and awareness for the causes we are involved in. The league has also looked for ways to give to our on-campus and off-campus communities through initiatives, such as small notes of kindness for World Kindness Day, decorating bags for lunches for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Roanoke, or organizing donation drives, including collecting feminine care products for the PAD Center in Lynchburg. Each year in February, the whole school, through its involvement in our service leagues, creates Valentine’s for the town of Chatham, delivering over 500 Valentine’s to the community in which we live.

The ripple effect of our leagues extends well beyond campus. Local organizations count on Chatham Hall students as partners, and community members often comment on the joy and hope our girls bring through their consistent presence and service.

This focus on service through our leagues is a vital part of Chatham Hall's tradition and the heart of the school. Since at least 1970, we have offered students this choice in their service and utilized our league system to help them find meaningful ways to give back. The leagues connect today’s students to a tradition that stretches back more than fifty years. Generations of alumnae recall their league experiences as some of the most memorable and formative parts of their Chatham Hall journey. At Chatham Hall, service is not a requirement to be checked off; it’s a choice, a tradition, and a way of life. Our Service Leagues ensure that every student discovers the joy of giving in ways that are personal, purposeful, and lasting.

In the end, our Service Leagues are about much more than volunteering. They are about shaping lives of purpose. Through the Service Leagues, Chatham Hall empowers each girl to lead with empathy, creativity, and purpose—preparing her to make a difference wherever she goes. By choosing how to serve, every Chatham Hall student discovers that giving of oneself is not just a responsibility, but a joy that lasts well beyond her time on campus.