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Student Life
Community Service
THIS IS WHERE WE SERVE.
At Immaculate Heart, service is an essential component of student life, rooted in foundational ideals that extend beyond intellectual understanding. Through active engagement in volunteer work, students are encouraged to live out their faith, practice social justice, and nurture their “image of God” by fostering connections with others. Service is integral to the school’s mission to cultivate academic excellence and a lifelong commitment to Christian values. Students are required to complete service hours each year and reflect on their experiences as part of their religious education.
Students participate in a variety of meaningful projects, including food drives for families in need, visits to local retirement homes and homeless shelters, and partnerships with organizations like the Tzedek Foundation and Homeboy Industries. They also engage in creative acts of kindness, such as baking for fundraisers, knitting bereavement prayer shawls for a local parish, and crafting Baptismal scarves for Children’s Hospital. Self-directed service projects further empower students to explore unique ways of helping their communities, such as organizing art projects for children and the elderly, supporting animal adoption, and working to protect the environment.
Service at Immaculate Heart goes beyond fulfilling a requirement; it’s an opportunity for spiritual growth. Reflections on these experiences, integrated with scriptural and theological discussions in theology classes, help students develop an awareness of the need for both charity and social justice. Above all, the program fosters a deep sense of community and kinship, empowering students to make meaningful contributions to the world around them.
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High School students volunteer at the Homeboy Industries Christmas Carnival. -
Middle School students load donations for our annual Adopt-A-Family outreach. -
Middle School students volunteering at the St. Francis Center. -
Middle School students volunteering with the Adopt-A-Family program. -
Middle School student council preparing for Halloween visit to IHM Elementary School.
Faith in Action
Immaculate Heart’s Catholic identity is rooted in service and social justice. Last year alone, the combined community service efforts of students in the middle & high school totaled more than:
17,673 hours
Our students engage in meaningful service projects that make a difference locally and globally. From supporting holiday food drives and organizing environmental cleanup efforts to volunteering with children and fundraising for important causes, Immaculate Heart students embrace opportunities to serve others and live out our mission of making the world a better place.
Examples of service opportunities include:
Examples of service opportunities include:
Protecting Our Environment
Environmental stewardship is a priority, with students organizing cleanup projects to protect and preserve natural spaces across our city and beyond, including regular excursions to Catalina Island and other Southern California marine habitats.
Environmental partner organizations include the Surfrider Foundation, Tree People, Heal the Bay, Friends of Griffith Park, and Friends of the LA River.
Environmental partner organizations include the Surfrider Foundation, Tree People, Heal the Bay, Friends of Griffith Park, and Friends of the LA River.
Working with Children, Animals, & the Arts
Our Pandas partner with a local elementary school and adopt primary-grade students for mentorship and recreation. The Halloween Carnival, a long-standing tradition, is the highlight of this partnership: a fun-filled day is coordinated by the Middle School Student Leadership. The booths, games and activities are all created, designed and constructed by the student body. Each child comes in costume and is escorted by middle school students to ensure maximum enjoyment of the day.
Additional partner organizations supporting children include the AME Project, K2K Tutors, Reading Partners, A Place Called Home, Baby2Baby, Jenesse Center, A Sense of Home, Hope in a Suitcase, Covenant House, and Sycamores, among others. Animal-related service partners include Paws for Pets, Sante D'Or Foundation, Kitten Rescue, Gentle Barn, and Dogs without Borders. Arts-themed service partners include Jaxx Theatricals, Village Arts, and the Nine O'Clock Players.
Additional partner organizations supporting children include the AME Project, K2K Tutors, Reading Partners, A Place Called Home, Baby2Baby, Jenesse Center, A Sense of Home, Hope in a Suitcase, Covenant House, and Sycamores, among others. Animal-related service partners include Paws for Pets, Sante D'Or Foundation, Kitten Rescue, Gentle Barn, and Dogs without Borders. Arts-themed service partners include Jaxx Theatricals, Village Arts, and the Nine O'Clock Players.
Supporting Our Community
Through our Adopt-A-Family program, as well as partnerships with Homeboy Industries, the Tzedek Foundation, the Hollywood Food Coalition, and The St. Francis Center, Immaculate Heart students regularly organize food drives and volunteer at events and shelters serving those in need across Los Angeles.
Additional partner service organizations include Big Sunday, APLA Health, Food on Foot, LA Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Alexandria House, Families Forward Learning Center, Door of Hope, Union Station, S.P.Y., Miry's List, Ahead with Horses, Huntington Health, Cedars Sinai, Project Angel Food, SAFE Project, CicLAVia, Meals on Wheels, Sages & Seekers, and many more.
Additional partner service organizations include Big Sunday, APLA Health, Food on Foot, LA Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Alexandria House, Families Forward Learning Center, Door of Hope, Union Station, S.P.Y., Miry's List, Ahead with Horses, Huntington Health, Cedars Sinai, Project Angel Food, SAFE Project, CicLAVia, Meals on Wheels, Sages & Seekers, and many more.
Quicklinks
A Catholic, independent college preparatory school for girls in grades 6 through 12, Immaculate Heart has been located on a beautiful hillside property in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles since our founding by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1906. We celebrate more than a century of nurturing the spiritual, intellectual, social and moral development of students as they distinguish themselves as women of great heart and right conscience.