Engraved into the footpath leading up to the front entrance of Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish are some words of wisdom, in bronze, the gift of the class of 2008 to their future fellow alumni.

“The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.” So said English philosopher Herbert Spencer, and though the fashions of our education system have changed much since his day more than 100 years ago, his words are still being taken to heart by the students and teachers at Eastside.

From their first days at the school, new students are made to think very carefully about their role in the wider world, and how their actions can help or harm the greater community, said teacher Clare Jenkins.

“As they progress through the school, students in each year group consider a particular theme which helps them understand their contribution to the world,” she said. “In the eighth grade, they are asked to think about ‘what does it mean to be a global citizen?’ Through their studies of the history of democracy, the students come to understand that they are morally obliged to share their gifts with others.”

Jenkins was in charge of a group of eighth grade students last semester who decided to turn that inquiry into action, through a series of volunteer projects.

Working with AmeriCorps, a national group which helps connect volunteers with non-profit groups and worthy projects, the 75 students sat down for lessons about civic engagement and their duty as citizens, before selecting a number of projects in the local community that they personally could contribute to.

AmeriCorps staff also connected with the Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning in Sammamish to discuss civic responsibility and work on community projects.

According to Charlie Kittridge, getting 75 eighth graders to agree on four projects was no easy task.

“We started out with about 10 ideas, and narrowed those down to four, with each student voting on what they thought we should do,” he said. Kittridge himself was very much in favor of some kind of outdoor trail restoration, having been involved since he was very young with the Washington Trails Association, maintaining routes along Mount Rainier and elsewhere.

And so a bit of trail clearing on land owned by the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe was the first project undertaken.

A number of students had expressed an interest in helping the poor in their community.

Soon, the Northwest Harvest facility in Kent was flooded with eager workers, packing 225 bins of frozen corn, enough to supply more than 1,000 families.

Northwest Harvest is a statewide hunger relief agency, which supplies 18 million pounds of food each year to food banks.

“Service has got to be a big part of any person’s life,” Kittridge said. “If you just take and don’t give, you’re not going to have a good experience.”