FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAM POLICIES
St. Joseph Regional High School: 2016-2017
Purpose:
The program is designed to sensitize students to the needs of others in their communities—especially children, the elderly, the disadvantaged, and the handicapped. Through their volunteer efforts, students will spiritually mature as they learn that serving others is at the heart of the Gospel.
Requirements:
Freshmen and sophomores are to complete 3 hours of service each marking period for a total of 12 hours during the school year. Students may complete all 12 hours up front or any time before the required deadlines. If they do, then they will receive full credit for any remaining marking periods. Any hours over the requirement for a given marking period will be applied to the next marking period.
Grading System:
Service hours count as 10% of your Theology marking period grade. Each hour of service is worth 3.3 points on your marking period grade. If a student is missing any hours by a deadline, those hours cannot be made up. You get credit only for hours that are properly documented and submitted by the deadline.
Paperwork:
Students should fill out a separate form for each place or organization they serve. Multiple dates/times done at one site should be put on the same form. The form has sections to be filled out by the student and his volunteer supervisor. Paperwork must be neat and legible. Fill in ALL of the requested information. Students may not sign off on anyone’s service hours. Completed forms must be turned in to your Theology teacher. Deadlines for all paperwork are as follows:
Signed Policies Sheet: Friday, September 16, 2016
1st Marking Period: Thursday, October 20, 2016
2nd Marking Period: Wednesday, January 4, 2017
3rd Marking Period: Thursday, March 16, 2017
4th Marking Period: Thursday, June 1, 2017
Qualifying Service:
All projects must benefit people, not animals. The projects chosen must be above and beyond a student’s (a) family responsibilities, both immediate (father, mother, sister, brother) and extended (grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles) and (b) responsibilities as a member of a school or community group (e.g., Student Government, sports programs). Students may complete up to 4 hours for the year doing service projects that directly benefit our school. The remaining 8 hours must be done for a community or agency outside of St. Joe’s. You may not be absent from school or leave school early to do service hours. If there is any doubt whatsoever about the kind of service that qualifies, the student should see his theology teacher before doing a given project. Otherwise, he risks having the submitted hours not count.
Non-Qualifying Service:
The following types of work do not count towards your service hours: any work for which you receive payment or remuneration; helping any for-profit business (including doctors); helping a relative “at the office”; tutoring; helping political organizations (unless they are sponsoring a charitable event that helps the whole community); helping neighbors with any work they can do themselves and/or afford to pay someone to do it, and helping students older than 6th grade (unless they are handicapped) Your service should benefit the community at large, elderly people, handicapped and/or disadvantaged people. Doing something “for free” does not automatically qualify it as community service. It is your responsibility to know what counts and what doesn’t. If there is any doubt, see your Theology teacher first.
NOTE WELL: St. Joe’s summer camps cannot be used for Community Service. Please be advised that your coaches are not the moderators for Community Service, and consequently they are not authorized to make a determination as to what qualifies for it. Please see your Theology teacher or Mr. Peters for that.
Suggestions for Service Hours:
Students are expected to take a hands-on approach to fulfilling their service project requirements, and they should therefore identify their own sites where they can perform service. This approach allows the students to choose projects that suit their own tastes and schedules without them having to be compelled into doing any particular type of service. Some suggested projects are as follows:
Community Service
blood bank, CCD teacher or aide, charity organization, coaching grammar school age children (nothing beyond 6th grade), elderly people (e.g., nursing home, assisted living facility), E.M.T. (ambulance), environmental clean-up, fire department, food kitchen or pantry, Habitat for Humanity, handicapped people (e.g., Special Olympics), homeless shelter, hospital volunteer, parish volunteer (altar server, general help, retreat team, etc.), police department, public library, any drive conducted for needy people
School Service
Craft Show, Fashion Show, Freshman Community Night, Open House tour guide, stage crew
Any program or drive sponsored by our school’s Campus Ministry Program counts as community service. If our school directly benefits from the project, those hours are “in house” and are subject to the 4 hour limit. If an outside agency (e.g., school, church, charitable organization, community food bank) is the recipient of our efforts, then those hours do not count towards the “in house” limit.
Extensions on Deadlines:
Deadline extensions occur rarely, and requests will be assessed on an as-needed basis. Any extension must be approved by your Theology teacher before the deadline. Students who have busy schedules because of extra-curricular activities cannot get an extension on that basis. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that paperwork left with a supervisor for a signature is returned by the deadline. Extensions will not be granted because the student “forgot” to get a signature in time.
I have read the above information about the Community Service Program and I understand what my responsibilities are in order to fulfill this requirement.
Student Signature ______Date ______
Student Name (print) ______
I understand what is expected of my son in order to complete the Community Service requirements.
Parent/Guardian Signature ______Date ______