Freshman Year
Students spend a day at a local community center serving the homeless, elderly, or disabled. They prepare for this Urban Plunge day throughout the year in their theology coursework, and discuss and reflect on the experience afterwards.
Sophomore Year
Students expand on their Freshman year service trip with the Sophomore Retreat Experience (S.R.E.). Students stay at D.A. overnight and go to local community centers the next morning for a day of service. In the evening, they return to D.A. to celebrate mass and reflect on their service.
Junior Year
Building upon their Christian Ethics curriculum, students work in small groups to advocate for a cause about which they are passionate. They present the results of their four month advocacy to the D.A. community during the JAXPO Fair in June. Recent topics have included bullying, the portrayal of women in the media, education reform, and teenage homelessness.
Senior Year
Thirty Hours---All students are required to complete thirty hours of community service at a site of their choosing.
Social Justice Seminars at Regis---On Tuesday afternoons in the spring, Dominican Academy seniors join Regis High School seniors for Social Justice Seminars. Guest speakers are invited to share how they are working for justice. Afterwards, there are small group discussions. The goal of this unique program is to have students engage each other on a number of important social justice and Christian service issues around the world, and to prepare our students for the co-ed world of college. Topics have included immigration, sweatshop labor, juvenile sentencing laws, and global health issues.
