ISM celebrates 40th annual Day of Service

From wrapping gifts to assembling bed frames to preparing lunches and ingredient bags, students were busy giving back to the community for the school’s 40th annual Student Life Organization (SLO) Day of Service earlier this month.

The school partnered with eight community organizations for student service projects, a core part of ISM’s student engagement programming, according to Sarah Bianucci, the student life coordinator at ISM.

“Marking its 40th year of dedicated service and community engagement, this annual tradition united students, staff and families in a collective effort to give back to the local community through meaningful acts of kindness and support,” a statement from an ISM press release said. “Guided by core values of compassion, inclusion, and civic responsibility, the event fostered empathy and leadership among students while making a tangible difference in the lives of those in need.”

The event is entirely planned and run by SLO, a student-led society at ISM that encourages student engagement across nine different departments, including academics, wellness and outreach. SLO’s Day of Service is run by the “Social Responsibility Department,” which plans various charitable events and activities for ISM students to participate in throughout the year, Bianucci said.

“It’s just amazing to watch these young people take on the capacity of, ‘Let’s plan a day of service,’ and they literally plan it down to the minute of the day …” Bianucci said. “This was student-planned. This was not something I did. Of course, I’m behind the wheels kind of herding the cats a little bit, but at the same time, this is truly student-led.”

The eight organizations students volunteered with throughout the Day of Service were:

Good in the ‘Hood – Adopt-A-Family: Students and staff collected and wrapped 75 gifts for two families going through financial and medical hardship. The school “adopted” these two families, and ISM parents and students bought items off the “adopted” families’ wish lists.

Pinky Swear Foundation: ISM students wrote 60 letters for children diagnosed with cancer.

My Very Own Bed: Students assembled 48 bed frames for youth transitioning into stable housing.

SABIS Bullying Prevention Campaign: SABIS is the international education network that manages schools in 21 countries on five continents, including ISM. As part of SABIS and ISM’s new anti-bullying program, “See it. Own It. Change it.”, students created a video campaign with personal experiences and ways to reduce bullying in SABIS schools.

Minneapolis Recreation Development: Students prepared sandwiches for distribution to alleviate hunger in the community, as part of the Minneapolis Recreation Development’s 363 Days Food Program, a project that distributes about 2,000 sandwiches a night to the homeless.

People Reaching Out to People (PROP): Students put together 30 burrito bowl ingredient bags, with items like canned chicken, rice packets, black beans, and corn, for families in need. ISM also raised money to fully fund a teenage driver’s education course.

Empty Bowls: In partnership with the PROP Food Shelf, students created and decorated 40 ceramic bowls that will be auctioned off at the 2026 PROP Empty Bowls fundraiser in February.

Bridge to Basics: Students collected hygiene products to donate to families in need, as well as assembled 15 Family Care Kits with items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, and deodorant.

In the lead-up to the SLO Day of Service, ISM also continued its tradition of partnering with PROP to launch a donation drive in October. However, due to shifting community needs, it switched from a food drive to a personal care item drive.

Prima Sisinni, the director of development and communications at PROP, said the food drive started when she was a student at ISM under the name “ISM Against Hunger.”

In preparation for the annual drive, PROP said it is always in need of personal care items and asked ISM whether this year’s donations could shift away from food, Sisinni said. From there, ISM created and launched the “PROP Up” campaign, a month-long personal care drive during October that collected nearly 700 pounds of personal care items, like shampoo, toothpaste, and other household items, for families in need.Sisinni said working on the other side of “PROP Up” is a “full circle moment” for her, and that programs like these, along with the SLO Day of Service, are crucial for students to get involved.

“I think getting youth involved … in serving their community, is extremely important and an aspect that provides an additional well-roundedness to youth,” Sisinni said. “It also starts those conversations earlier. Eden Prairie is often perceived as a very affluent community, but it starts conversations about invisible need and starts conversations about compassion.”

Video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1C5JRsRHSj/