Our steadfast dedication to reaching beyond our immediate school community to support the people of the greater Denver area has never been stronger. We accomplish this through participation in a multitude of different service organizations and by partnering with many of Denver's at-risk schools and students.

Collectively, students at Kent Denver perform more than 15,000 hours of community service each year, and the school is particularly dedicated to working with Denver Public Schools students to support quality education at every school. In short, Kent Denver School is committed to making the greater Denver community a better place.

Kent Denver School is a private school that is committed to serving the public good.

Our steadfast dedication to reaching beyond our immediate school community to support the people of the greater Denver area has never been stronger. We accomplish this through participation in a multitude of different service organizations and by partnering with many of Denver's at-risk schools and students. Collectively, students at Kent Denver perform more than 15,000 hours of community service each year, and the school is particularly dedicated to working with Denver Public Schools students to support quality education at every school. In short, Kent Denver School is committed to making the greater Denver community a better place.

Kent Denver School serves the greater community in the following ways:

• The school offers Breakthrough Kent Denver, formerly Summerbridge, a year-round program that serves more than 100 Denver middle school students and 25 aspiring teachers. This program helps young people from under-resourced backgrounds set and achieve ambitious personal and academic goals. This creates paths to college for motivated middle school students who currently have limited financial and educational opportunities. The program also promotes careers in education for talented high school and college students to address the significant shortfall in capable young people who are interested in teaching careers, especially in urban and multicultural settings.

Breakthrough Kent Denver works closely with schools including Baker, Cole, Kepner, MLK, Noel, Place, Rishel and Smiley in helping to identify students who have the promise of achieving academic and leadership success. Students attend a six-week summer session and Saturday classes throughout the school year at Kent Denver, and they receive tutoring and follow-up at their schools.

• Kent Denver School has an active partnership with Capitol Hill Community Services, an organization that serves hot meals to homeless people in downtown Denver. Students raise more than $5,000 in donations each year to purchase food, and they serve meals each week at Trinity Church in downtown Denver. Students also donate books and engage with the homeless in ways that promote a service learning that goes beyond the concept of simple charity. Additionally, Kent Denver's middle school supports Capitol Hills Community Services financially through a bike-a-thon and walk-a-thon each year.

•Helping capable students from the greater Denver community get access to a first-rate college preparatory education, the school awards more than $1.4 million in tuition assistance to more than 18 percent of our student body (120 students). The average grant is approximately $12,000. Students who have received tuition assistance at Kent Denver School have gone on to attend many of the most competitive colleges in the United States (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, etc.).

• Through our community service program, Kent Denver has formed proactive partnerships with several Denver Public Schools, including Rishel Middle School, Ashley Elementary, Rosedale Elementary, Traylor Academy and Doull Elementary. For example, each week upper school students travel to Traylor Academy to tutor, offer extra-curricular support, and help enrich the curriculum. These partnerships strengthen all of the schools involved, including Kent Denver.

• Kent Denver has teamed up with ACE, a non-profit organization that promotes greater accessibility to independent schools through scholarships. Kent Denver is one of several independent schools hoping to expand educational opportunities for low-income families in the greater Denver area.

• During their junior and senior years, each Kent Denver School student completes 60 or more hours of community service working with groups such as Habitat for Humanity, Amnesty International, Ronald McDonald House and The Gathering Place. In addition, Kent Denver School has established working relationships with a number of food distribution centers, nursing homes and parks departments. Recently, one student established an Internet-based program to match student volunteers with worthy local causes in need of staffing or support.

• Students consistently stage fundraisers to gather food, clothing and financial contributions to support such charities as the Susan B. Komen Foundation, the Fourteeners Project, Bonfils-Stanton blood drive, Chuck's Kids, Help for Heat and a tsunami relief effort via UNICEF.

• Kent Denver has a Teaching Fellowship program designed to introduce talented college graduates to the teaching profession. The school reserves three faculty positions each year for this program. Graduates of the teaching fellowship are now teaching in schools across the country.

In summary, Kent Denver School feels a profound obligation to help strengthen the Denver community—and the students at Kent Denver—by establishing an ethic of service learning in whatever way most suits the needs of our students and the community.