Reimagining Service Learning: Lincoln School’s Transformative Journey with Inspire Citizens
5th Grade Lincoln students tend to their garden that was planted as part of a sustainability unit. The unit is part of a larger undertaking by the school to expand student interactions with concepts of service and sustainability.
For Lincoln School in Buenos Aires, service learning has long been a part of its identity. But when the pandemic forced a temporary pause on wider educational activities, the school saw an opportunity—not just to restart service initiatives, but to reimagine them. Rather than returning to a predictable slate of community service trips or fundraising efforts, Lincoln committed to something deeper: an integrated, school-wide approach to service learning that would connect meaningfully to student learning and personal growth.
Now, in partnership with Inspire Citizens, Lincoln is embedding service learning into its curriculum in a way that ensures sustainability, impact, and authentic engagement. As Rebekah Madrid, Director of Teaching and Learning, describes it, the process has been about more than just bringing service back—it’s about transforming what service means for Lincoln students. “It wasn’t just about resuscitating what we used to do or what worked in other schools,” Rebekah explains. “It was about building something new—something embedded in learning, aligned across K-12, and sustainable beyond any one person’s leadership.”
Laying the Groundwork: A Strategic Vision for Change
When Lincoln revised its strategic plan in 2020, service learning was identified as a major priority. But in a post-pandemic landscape, getting there required intentionality, patience, and the right support. That’s where Inspire Citizens was factored in. “We needed someone to come in and say, ‘This is what best practice in service learning looks like,’” Rebekah shares. “And not just in theory, but how it could actually work in our context, for our students and teachers.”
The Lincoln School’s transformative journey is intensively supported by its enduring collaboration with Inspire Citizens, including co-founder Aaron Moniz.
Inspire Citizens co-founder Aaron Moniz has been at the forefront of this journey, working closely with Lincoln’s leadership, faculty, and students. Through a three-year roadmap, the partnership is designed to build not just capacity but momentum—starting with what Rebekah calls a “coalition of the willing” and expanding from there. “Aaron met with eight to ten teaching teams in that first visit, helping them design units that seamlessly integrate service learning,” Rebekah recalls. “And it wasn’t just about the ideas—it was about documentation, follow-through, and making our work sustainable.”
This commitment to sustainability was underscored when Inspire Citizens delivered something few consultants ever do: a service learning handbook, customized for Lincoln. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was real—it was a living document, built from the actual work happening in classrooms,” Rebekah says. “That was a game changer.”
Service Learning in Action: Stories of Impact
First graders at Lincoln School of Buenos Aires have a deeper sense of community through an interactive unit that involved the maintenance staff.
While systemic change is at the heart of Lincoln’s service learning transformation, the real impact is seen in the day-to-day experiences of students and teachers. One of the most powerful examples comes from among the school’s youngest learners. “Grade 1 did a unit on community, exploring what it means to belong,” Rebekan shares. “Instead of looking outward, they looked within—interviewing our maintenance staff, learning their names, and understanding their roles in our school.”
For one student, the impact was immediate. Rebekah recalls, “A parent told me, ‘My child now knows every maintenance worker and says hello to them by name.’” She adds, “That’s the kind of connection that lasts. That’s service learning.”
In the upper grades, another project brought both success and unexpected challenges. A Grade 5 unit on plants and sustainability led students to plant a garden—one they would later pass on to younger students to maintain. The excitement was palpable.
But over the break, disaster struck. “Burst pipes destroyed the entire garden,” Rebekah recounts with a laugh. “The tomatoes survived, but that was it.”
It could have been a moment of frustration, but instead, it became a lesson in resilience. “Now they’re shifting to a new project, focusing on animal roles in ecosystems,” Rebekah explains. “Because service learning isn’t just about success—it’s about learning from the unexpected and adapting.”
Beyond Year One: Scaling Up for Lasting Change
With the first year of this transformation coming to a close, Lincoln is already seeing the impact of its commitment. The goal is ambitious: by the end of year three, every student, from Kindergarten to Grade 12, will experience at least one service learning unit per year.
And they’re well on their way. “Right now, we have 25 service learning units in progress,” Rebekah notes. “And we’re just getting started.”
Year two will focus on expanding beyond the early adopters, bringing more faculty into the fold and refining school-wide systems. By year three, Lincoln aims to ensure that these systems can thrive beyond any single individual or leadership team. “The goal is sustainability,” Rebekah emphasizes. “When Aaron comes back, he knows our people, our projects, and our vision. That continuity is huge.”
And perhaps most importantly, the work is no longer just about school-led initiatives—it’s about a school-wide culture of engagement, empathy, and action. “We talk a lot about community at Lincoln,” Rebekah reflects. “But this work is making sure we’re including everyone—students, teachers, staff, parents. We’re not just a community that exists. We’re a community that works together.”
As Lincoln moves forward, its approach to service learning is proving to be more than just a program. It’s a mindset shift—one that is reshaping how students understand their role in their school, their city, and the world.