Join us for an unforgettable life experience
Why are we named Saints & Scholars, Inc?
Saints & Scholars, Inc. is a service-learning (“saints”) and educational (“scholars”) program that integrates community engagement with a purposeful curriculum designed to develop leadership, critical thinking, and global awareness.
The organization offers arts-based service-learning opportunities for teens across the United States, along with programs for young adults in the Boston area and immersive experiences connected to Dublin. All programming is grounded in the broader context of Irish and diasporic culture, with opportunities that engage participants in both local and international settings.
Rooted in the traditions of the Irish diaspora, these programs draw on a rich range of artistic expression—visual art, literature, music, dance, theatre, and storytelling—while reflecting enduring values such as creativity, resilience, and a strong sense of community.
How do service projects include the arts?
Service projects at Saints & Scholars, Inc. place the arts at the center of community engagement—using creativity as a way to connect, communicate, and make a tangible impact.
Participants might lead hands-on art workshops with community partners, bringing creative experiences into settings where they can spark joy and connection. For example, our participating students or “ambassadors” may visit assisted living or nursing facilities to create art alongside senior residents, fostering conversation, memory, and shared experience through painting, collage, or storytelling. In other settings, they might collaborate with younger students to design and paint murals that reflect school identity and pride, or contribute to large-scale mosaic projects that honor the history and culture of a local or Indigenous community.
The arts also serve as a platform for exploring social issues. Ambassadors may work together to design and create installations that respond to themes such as identity, equity, or belonging—using visual storytelling as a powerful tool for dialogue and reflection. In this way, art becomes more than an activity; it becomes a means of engagement, expression, and connection across generations and communities.
What type of art and materials do we use?
Some students may engage in the ‘messy’ or hands-on art such as painting, building, and sewing while some may prefer the digital work including photography, film, and documentation of our services.
Who are our community partnerships? Whom do we serve?
The organizations with which we partner include underserved populations and programs such as homeless shelters, human rights organizations, immigration centers, U.S. Veteran associations, senior residents at assisted living or nursing facilities, domestic violence shelters, adults with disabilities, urban youth, indigenous peoples, and more…
We always welcome the opportunity to develop more community partnerships.
Who participates in Saints & Scholars, Inc. ?
Participants include high school age teens (14 - 18 years old) or college-aged young adults.
Individuals are placed on projects with same-aged peers and supervised by Saints & Scholars, Inc. staff.
Core Saints & Scholars, Inc. global citizenship programming, intercultural helping skills and personal/professional reflection is incorporated into all service projects. We also provide career mentorship and awareness. Each program is facilitated by Saints & Scholars, Inc. trained staff. We are fully vetted and insured.
This program is especially suited for young people exploring career options in the arts, education, counseling, human services, management [of non-profits], legal advocacy, and human rights.
All participants earn a certificate of completion at the end of each program and any paperwork regarding high school CSL requirements can be signed. Both high school and college-aged students can build their résumé or CV through such meaningful activities.
We have strict behavioral expectations for all ambassador participants given the vulnerable populations for whom we provide art programming.
Currently our projects are located in Boston and the surrounding areas.
What will your experience be like with Saints & Scholars, Inc.?
Quality service-learning programs go beyond altruism and charity work. They offer participants meaningful experiences that can positively transform their lives in powerful ways, which, in turn, ignites the necessary leadership abilities to impact the schools and communities of which they are a part.
You can join our mission to engage in art-based service learning projects while immersing yourself with other cultures or subcultures and developing intercultural helping and global citizenship skills. We offer comprehensive, mentored and supportive programs that offer ongoing opportunities for personal and professional reflection and career mentorship.
Saints & Scholars, Inc. offers a range of flexible engagement options designed to meet diverse schedules and goals—from single-day service projects to more in-depth programs requiring approximately 15 or 30 hours of participation.
Participants can engage in a format that fits their schedule: four Saturday sessions, an eight-week after-school program, or immersive week-long projects during school vacations or the summer.
Students join Saints & Scholars, Inc. to fulfill community service requirements, strengthen college applications or résumés, explore internship pathways, and—most importantly—to take part in meaningful experiences that support personal growth and a deeper sense of purpose.
Heather Harris, Founder and Board President
Saints & Scholars, Inc.
saintsandscholars.inc@gmail.com
How did Saints & Scholars, Inc. get started?
Saints & Scholars, Inc. was founded in 2019 by Heather Harris after 25 years of working and volunteering with underserved populations throughout both the U.S. and Ireland and seeing the positive, healing effects of the arts. Heather is a licensed mental health counselor (also accredited in Ireland), board certified art therapist, school adjustment counselor, and an adjunct professor in art therapy and clinical mental health graduate programs in Boston, MA.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any inquiries. We hope to meet you on one of our arts service corps teams.
Contact us with questions at saintsandscholars.inc@gmail.com