Community Service

Community service is a vital component of our school's educational mission. Students are offered opportunities to participate in community service activities throughout the year, such as volunteering to serve food to the homeless, tending a community garden, or building friendships with at-risk girls.

These opportunities create a greater awareness of the students' citizenship and their responsibility toward others. By encountering others with real needs, students discover gratitude for their own gifts and become empowered by the realization that they can help change the world.

Santa Catalina School student and little girl coloring


Peace and Justice Club

Through Santa Catalina’s Peace and Justice Club, students learn about important social justice issues and are encouraged to put their concerns into action in a variety of ways. The Peace and Justice Club brings together several different social action groups and community service activities.


Local Partnerships

Students dedicate time throughout the school year to community service on the Monterey Peninsula, partnering with many local organizations. These have included:

Group of students gleaning lettuce in a field
  • Food Bank for Monterey County: Students package and distribute food for people in need.
  • Dorothy’s Kitchen: Students engage in the preparation and serving of food for homeless clients and people in need.
  • Gateway Center: Our students participate in outdoor gardening and spend time visiting the residents of this home for adults with challenges.
  • Ag Against Hunger: Students harvest fields and collect food for people in need.
  • Ave Maria Senior Living: Students visit with residents.
  • Monterey Parks: Students participate in habitat restoration and beach cleanups across the peninsula.
  • Everyone's Harvest: Students tend a community garden whose goal is to support marginalized people in gaining access to fresh, local, organic produce.

Outside of school, many of our students also volunteer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Global High School

Santa Catalina School is recognized as a Gold-Level Global High School with Catholic Relief Services. The CRS Global High School Program provides opportunities for Catholic secondary schools to join with CRS to educate about Catholic social teaching and advocate for solidarity with the global poor, including poverty-focused international assistance, climate change, and the pursuit of peace.

Santa Catalina regularly engages in Catholic Relief Services initiatives, such as participating in emergency response and recovery collections. Santa Catalina’s Food Fast raises awareness about poverty and gives students a concrete way to see how their actions can make a difference in the world. This effort has raised over $100,000 in the past 20 years to help alleviate hunger and suffering around the world.