Carondelet High School was selected as the National recipient for Outstanding Service by a High School to represent the Youth Service Initiative Program of the Jefferson Awards in 2008.

Carondelet High School continues to participate in the Jefferson Awards, Youth Service Initiative as it cultivates a culture of service within the student body. Every year since 2008, Junior and Senior students have stepped up to be leaders on the Jefferson Awards, Students in Action team. These students attend a leadership workshop sponsored by Deloitte and other corporations who support the students in their efforts to be of service to the wider community. Freshmen and Sophomores assist the leaders in the many projects that the students challenge themselves to accomplish.

The students who respond to this call of service in a deep and broad way are honored as Jefferson Award recipients during a special ceremony in their honor.

This school year The Jefferson Award Leadership team has taken on the challenge of raising money for the Get on the Bus Foundation. Children are the unseen and largely underserved victims of crime. They are deprived of their mothers' presence and affection for the duration of whatever prison sentence has been administered. Get On The Bus provides transportation, lunch and backpacks full of age-appropriate activities to keep the children occupied during their ride to the prison site, which is often hundreds of miles from the place they call home. After the four hour visit, in which mothers and children have unlimited physical contact, the children are supplied with teddy bears and other softies to console them on their ride home. For more information, visit the website at www.getonthebus.us.