The Moseley Venture to Serve: Empowering Service and Community Engagement at St. Margaret’s
By Marites Olano
In the spring of 2023, St. Margaret’s launched the Moseley Venture to Serve, a groundbreaking initiative designed to empower students through hands-on service learning.
This program, supported by an endowment fund approved by the Board of Trustees, embodies the school’s unwavering commitment to community engagement. The fund not only ensures the continuation of these impactful service opportunities for future generations, but also honors the enduring legacy of Will Moseley, St. Margaret’s Head of School from 2013 to 2023.
The Moseley Venture to Serve consists of two key components aimed at deepening the school’s connection to service learning: The continuation of the All-School Service Learning Project and a service venture fund designed to ensure that service projects extend beyond the classroom and have a lasting impact. Through the Moseley Venture to Serve endowment, funding is made available to support service projects for years to come.
The service venture fund offers grants which provide a platform for students, alumni, and St. Margaret’s professional community to launch their own service initiatives. These grants are designed to support innovative projects that go beyond the school’s regular activities, enabling individuals or teams to bring their service-driven ideas to life with financial support.
The grants encourage creativity and impact, with the ultimate goal of promoting outreach that creates lasting change. As Victor Cota, director of equity and inclusion, explains, “The 2023-2024 school year marked the first full iteration of Venture to Serve and, as is so often the case at St. Margaret’s, our community members showed up and showed out! We had 19 approved projects totaling $30,000 in approved funds. The process is an incredible learning opportunity for young people.”
To qualify, projects must align with the school’s Episcopal identity and have a clear, defined timeline, with a goal of completing the project by October 1, 2025. By offering these grants, the Moseley Venture to Serve encourages individuals to take action, transform their ideas into tangible service efforts, and create meaningful, positive change in the local community and the world.
Several exciting initiatives made a lasting impact on the community in the first full year since the Moseley Venture to Serve’s launch, each embodying the values of learning, leadership, and service. Here are a few examples of student-led projects that benefited the greater community:
Lemons to Lemonade
Lemons to Lemonade began as a grief workbook and has since evolved into a four-day grief camp for children ages 5-13 who have lost loved ones. The camp utilizes creative outlets to introduce healthy coping strategies. The project led by Avery Lind (‘27) and a close childhood friend, focuses on fun, educational coping strategies that were helpful in the founders' own grief journeys.
The camp offers a variety of interactive activities such as memory boxes, mindful jars, and bracelet making to commemorate their loved ones and provide efficient grieving strategies. "What sets Lemons to Lemonade apart from other grief organizations is that our book and camp embody grief mechanisms that are fun and educational. From our own experiences, we process our grief better when activities are filled with excitement,” Avery said.
A four-day grief camp was held for children ages 5-13, providing creative outlets and healthy coping strategies for managing grief. The camp featured partners like pet therapy animals from Pet Alliance and a Build-a-Bear service. In addition, lunch and snacks were provided throughout the event. On the final day, a carnival was organized to celebrate the children's progress, where campers and their families enjoyed games such as ring toss and Connect Four, face painting, and the opportunity for the campers to introduce their families to new friends. Through these activities, the children learned that grief is a natural and personal experience, and they were equipped with creative coping tools while connecting with peers facing similar challenges.
“We are very excited to help kids acknowledge and manage their grief and were heavily inspired by the camps and groups we joined growing up providing similar experiences for kids who have suffered loss,” Avery said. With plans to expand, Lemons to Lemonade re-applied and was approved for 2025. They are looking forward to serving the community again, aiming to continue providing children with the tools they need to navigate grief in a healthy, supportive environment.
Leaders4Lax
Leaders4Lax, created and led by Upper School senior Grace Burke, introduced the love and passion of lacrosse to elementary and middle school-aged girls who have not been exposed to the sport.
The initiative hosted three two-day camps for girls recruited through Unidos San Juan Capistrano and the Boys and Girls Club of San Juan Capistrano, culminating in a tournament. As part of the project, Grace developed the Leaders4Lax workbook, a comprehensive guide for new players covering both on-field skills and off-field development. The workbook included drills, training schedules, goals, and action plans. It was promoted locally and placed in elementary school libraries and physical education departments to help grow and expand the sport in Southern California.
Leaders4Lax gave participants free equipment and a workbook, creating a valuable opportunity to experience lacrosse. After learning some basic skills, they played a game of lacrosse. Grace shared, “I ran a lacrosse camp with over 30 girls who have either never heard of lacrosse, never played, or simply don’t have access to the sport because of socioeconomic or geographical barriers,” Grace said.
A major highlight for Leaders4Lax was the unexpected turnout of girls who participated in the program. Additionally, the camp's final game fostered an unforgettable sense of camaraderie, as two teams competed in a relay race after a day of team selection.
“This was a huge tournament and to see the girls go all out on the field as well as cheering on the side lines was amazing,” Grace said.
Health in Your Hands
St. Margaret’s Upper School junior Rohen Vargo was featured in the Los Angeles Times spotlighting his service to the local community. His project was inspired by his studies in Wealth, Poverty and Ethics, an Upper School elective course. Analyzing preventative healthcare access in South Orange County, Rohen decided to start a project titled “Health in Your Hands” meant to help local residents in their basic preventative healthcare needs.
The project involved distributing at-home blood pressure cuffs at a recent event organized by Family Assistance Ministries, a longtime St. Margaret’s service-learning partner. Rohen’s project involved participation from a nurse with the Capistrano Unified School District who volunteered to assist with outreach efforts. In addition, two St. Margaret’s students also volunteered to serve as Spanish translators at the event.
To learn more about Rohen’s project click here.
The Moseley Venture to Serve empowers St. Margaret’s students, faculty and professional community, to transform their innovative ideas into tangible projects, extending the school’s commitment to service beyond its traditional boundaries. Through this support, the Venture to Serve helps cultivate a spirit of leadership, creativity, and social responsibility, ultimately contributing to the greater good of both the St. Margaret’s community and the world.