Local Engagement

From kindergarten to senior year, our students connect with vibrant change-makers and impactful organizations throughout the East Bay for in-field learning, volunteering, and activism. To the best of our ever-growing ability, we approach these community connections with critical self-awareness and cultural humility. Head-Royce has a complicated history, one which we are openly examining as we cultivate responsible citizenship in our students.

The School is currently committed to “driving deeper civic engagement and building authentic partnerships within Oakland and the local Bay Area”—an institutional value that strongly encourages our students’ political activism, social justice efforts, and collaborations with local groups. Since a Head-Royce education is committed to challenging the status quo, such local connections and collaborations help our students gain the insights, tools, and practice needed for creating a more just and healthy world.

*Head-Royce 1st grader writes a card for a patient at Highland Hospital.*

*An Upper School tutors a student at Glenview Elementary.*

Spotlight: Local Engagement Initiatives

Heads Up

Over the last few decades, Head-Royce’s most significant community partnership has been with Oakland Unified School District through our Heads Up Program. Since 1987, Heads Up has provided over 1,000 first-generation college-bound students of color from Oakland public schools with an intensive summer program and Saturday Leadership Academy.

Aligned with the Head-Royce School’s core tenets of Scholarship, Diversity, and Citizenship, Heads Up offers its students challenging and enriching programming to cultivate socially responsible leaders. The CCE and Heads Up are working closely together to create deeper and more consistent connections between the two communities. Learn more here.

Capstone Social Justice Projects (Lower School)

Community Engagement Days (Middle School)

Rebuilding Together Oakland (Upper School)

For almost two decades, Head-Royce has been committed to Rebuilding Together, a national organization focused on rehabilitating homes owned by low-income, elderly and disabled residents. With a robust crew of over 25 students and five faculty for each workday, Head-Royce scrapes, sands, tapes, primes, and paints one to two Oakland homes each spring. It has become a beloved tradition of the Upper School student body.

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