Our Center in the News

September 21, 2025 by Piper Rosenthal for the M-A Chronicle

“He’s as good with kids as any teacher I know. He’s caring and warm, and he opens up his village to all of us, and we all feel like we are at home in his country,” Service Learning teacher Andrew Stuart said about Jofreth “Gato” Quesada. 

For the past six years, Quesada has supported Stuart on M-A’s annual service trip to Sámara, Costa Rica. 

Quesada was working at a surf shop in downtown Sámara when he was introduced to Jesse Friedman, the owner of a tour and trip company looking for a local Samareño to work as a tour guide. This connection opened up new opportunities for Quesada, later linking him to Stuart in 2019. 

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May 27, 2025 by Jennifer Yoshikoshi for the Almanac

Through community service, Menlo-Atherton High School students are learning about humility, reciprocity and accountability. Located in the P-5 portable classroom, students have made a  headquarters on campus that serves as the central space for all things service. 

On May 12, eight students from the school’s Service Learning Center were invited by state Sen. Josh Becker to be recognized on the Senate floor in Sacramento for their commitment to the club. 

The Service Learning Center was created in 2017 by a group of M-A students who wanted to connect their peers to service opportunities with organizations in the community, said Lily Pellican, marketing lead of the club. Service learning is an educational experience that allows students to learn about civic engagement while serving the community’s needs. 

“Service can be bipartisan,” said Andy Stuart, M-A teacher and club adviser. “Everyone can do service and feel good about it.”

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May 23, 2025 by Jenna Lee for the M-A Chronicle

M-A’s Service Learning Center is the perfect place to start your volunteering journey. Senior co-president Emiko Edmunds has been involved with the SLC since her sophomore year. “We seek to provide equally accessible service opportunities and empower students of all backgrounds to find purpose by serving the Menlo-Atherton community,” she said. 

The SLC runs volunteer opportunities at M-A and in the surrounding community. At M-A, the SLC partners with sports teams and classes, including the water polo team, AVID, and the Computer Academy. “We try to make sure that we structure service learning with an emphasis on both service and learning to partner the community and students,” Edmunds said. In the community, the SLC hosts Garden Days at the Belle Haven Community Garden, where students help clean and reorganize the garden. 

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May 18, 2025 by Katelyn Chao for the M-A Chronicle

M-A’s Service Learning Center is introducing a new civic engagement class and the California State Seal of Civic Engagement this coming fall. 

The new Community Service Leadership class is designed to strengthen service at M-A by devoting class time to develop service projects. The seal will be awarded to students who show exemplary commitment to service for their community. 

“We think that more schools could have service learning,” SLC advisor and future Community Service Leadership teacher Andrew Stuart said. “It can do a lot of good for resilience, wellness, and connection—things that teenagers are struggling with.” 

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January 16, 2025 by Leah Collins for the M-A Chronicle

The girls flag football team left school on Monday to volunteer at the Ecumenical Hunger Program, a non-profit organization based in East Palo Alto that assists families experiencing financial hardship.

During the day, the students helped organize the closet, prepare bags of groceries, and distribute them to families in need. “My favorite moment was helping two different mothers with kids, holding their basket as they’re picking out fruit, and seeing the kids look super happy,” junior Audrey Majzun said. “Seeing their gratitude and being able to engage with the community in that way felt great.”

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December 14, 2023 by Brian Hoyle for the M-A Chronicle

“Teach how to do good, well,” was the summary of the Service Learning Center’s mission in its presentation to M-A’s Shared Decision-Making Site Council. The Service Learning Center (SLC) is M-A’s “hub for service,” as Co-president Emiko Edmunds puts it, and it conducts service days, helps students organize service, and brings together all service clubs at M-A, from Surfriders to Intercambio. Student leaders organize in P-5 with the SLC Staff Director Andrew Stuart to collectively work out where to put their resources, how to advertise service opportunities to the school, and how to best help the M-A Community. 

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March 25, 2017 by Jackson Confer for the M-A Chronicle

Whether it be to spice up a resume or from the generosity of the soul, community service is and always has been a very popular activity for high school students. From the annual canned food drive in fall to a beach cleanup in the spring, something in human nature compels us to give back. After all, in the words of congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, “Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.”

While opportunities for service come knocking at the door to some, others have absolutely no idea where to start looking, or, even worse, cannot afford to take part in service organizations or projects. This is where the Menlo-Atherton Service Learning Center comes in. The sister entity to the College and Career Center, this new addition to the student resources of M-A will be unique in the sense that its conception and planning is student-led.

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