Senior School Character Education

SMUS puts a high priority on helping you develop as a service-minded leader, and you'll have opportunities to build these important skills and put them into practice in our community.

Leadership

Leadership is hard to learn only in a classroom, so we give you challenging opportunities to hone the skills that make for a good leader: teamwork, communication, encouragement and decision-making. Our leadership program is designed so you develop the necessary skills and values in different areas, including in sustainability and global responsibility.

While leadership is something you work on from Grades 9 through 12, the culmination of our leadership program is becoming one of our school prefects. A prefect is a student in Grade 12 elected by their peers to be a role model and work directly with staff to make a positive impact on the school community.

"Strong bonds are key to a strong community and the Head Prefects should be the first to initiate them. As a pair they should be able to connect with different aspects of school in different ways so that they can work to bring the school closer together." — Morgan from Lacombe, AB

Service

Service and having a desire to help others is part of being a SMUS student. You’ll work to make a difference in our community to benefit local, national and international charities, and graduate understanding that giving back is an important part of life. There are service opportunities every week and the Volunteer Club is one of our most popular clubs.

Service Trips

Our international service trips during Spring Break take you to a wide range of places around the world. You and your classmates will work with local people and non-profit organizations. Service trips leave a lasting impact and from these trips we hope you gain a lifelong desire to improve the lives of others.

Chapel

SMUS is a non-denominational school that welcomes all faiths and beliefs. The school has a Chapel where you’ll join your classmates in a weekly gathering to reflect, listen and learn from other cultures, and build community. These gatherings are important in the context of the cultural, economic and geographic diversity that exists in our community, so we are all regularly reminded of our common aspirations and the values that hold us together.

Student voices take centre stage in chapel in several ways, including:

  • Students who speak about their experiences on international service trips
  • Club and council members who speak about their passions
  • Student speakers who come from different countries, and share their world views and experiences
  • The student Chapel team, which coordinates speakers and presenters, and offers feedback to the school Chaplain on the chapel program.