This week, 100 students from Noble Street College Prep gathered at Farmworks in the East Garfield Park neighborhood to participate in a day of service. The students volunteered at Farmworks, an urban farm run by the Heartland Alliance. The Farmworks service was set up and supervised by My Block, My Hood, My City. 200 additional Noble Street Prep students performed other volunteer services on the same day around the city. All 12,000 Noble students complete a minimum of 40 hours of community service during the course of their four years as a student. Ammad Hyland, a freshman at Noble Street shared, “Students should not think of this as a hassle. The requirement that we have these community service hours helps us build ourselves while also helping others in a special way.” Celeste Pedroza, another freshman, shared Hyland’s passion, “I’m here to give back to the community. This is our home, we have to build it up.” She added, “I feel like Noble is a great community and I think this is a great project for our school, because it shows who we are.” Getting students involved in their local communities and teaching them the importance of volunteerism is a crucial part of the character building process that takes place in high school. The Noble Network of Charter Schools recognizes this importance and supports efforts by their 12,000 students to make a positive impact on communities across Chicago.